At the age of 43, Manny Pacquiao had left skilled boxing to attempt to fulfill one other of his nice desires, to turn into the president of the Philippines to carry his 1000’s of compatriots out of poverty.
For months, he spent months touring each nook of the Asian nation with the promise of combating corruption and medicines to enhance the usual of residing of the inhabitants.
His compatriots turned their backs on him
Nonetheless, his concepts didn’t resonate, as a result of even earlier than the voting course of for the presidential seat, pre-election polls gave him little probability of victory.
After the preliminary rely, the boxer obtained solely about 4 million votes (6.6%), coming in third place behind Marcos Jr. and the liberal Leni Robredo.
Underneath this situation, he was left with no various however to acknowledge his defeat.
“As a boxer and an athlete, I understand how to simply accept defeat. I simply hope that even when I misplaced this struggle, my fellow Filipinos who’re struggling will win,” Pacquiao mentioned in a video posted on social media.
Clear elections
For his or her half, worldwide observers agreed that the elections have been clear, regardless of the shortage of privateness when it got here to voting.
“The preliminary results of the vote represents the desire of the Filipino folks, though quite a few considerations have been raised in regards to the integrity of the method that have to be addressed urgently,” one of many researchers from the Asian Community for Free Elections (ANFREL) mentioned at a press convention.
The subsequent president, who will exchange incumbent Rodrigo Duterte, is scheduled to be sworn in on June 30 for a single six-year time period.
As for Pacquiao, boxing analysts are starting to query whether or not he’ll return to the ring.
