Local elections in the Philippines will take place on May 12, 2025. These will be conducted together with the 2025 general election for national positions. All elected positions above the barangay level will be contested. The following 18,271 positions will be contested: [1]
The elective positions in the barangays will not be decided on this day. The elections for these positions will be held in December 2025.
Local government in the Philippines is governed by the Local Government Code of 1991. The country is divided into autonomous regions, provinces, cities, municipalities and barangays. For elections on this day, all local positions above the barangay level are disputed.
Election slates of a governor, vice governor and Sangguniang Panlalawigan (for provinces), mayor, vice mayor and Sangguniang Panlungsod/Bayan (for cities and municipalities) are common. Provincial and city/municipal may cross-endorse each other. Slates may contain candidates from multiple parties. Positions are elected separately.
For governor, vice governor, mayor and vice mayor, voting is via first-past-the-post.
For members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, Panlungsod and Bayan, voting is via multiple non-transferable vote, where a voter has as many votes as there are positions, and can distribute it to how many candidates there are on the ballot.
Legislative positions which are designated Indigenous People's Mandatory Representation are not elected on this day, nor are barangay positions.
Ex officio seats in local legislatures are also not elected on this day. Philippine Councilors League seats on Sangguniang Panlalawigan are elected later.
The 80-seat Bangsamoro Parliament shall be elected for the first time in 2025, after being postponed in 2022. A voter has two separate votes. In 32 seats, voting shall be via different parliamentary districts via first-past-the-post. In 40 seats, voting shall be party-list proportional representation. In the remaining 8 seats, it shall be determined separately in different sectoral conventions. [2]
The first Bangsamoro Parliament election shall be held on 2025. Out of 80 seats, 69 will be disputed in the election.
All 82 provinces shall hold elections for its elective offices.
The provinces of Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur shall hold its first election after voters from the old province of Maguindanao approved its division in a 2022 plebiscite.
All 149 cities shall hold elections for its elective offices.
The new cities of Baliwag, Calaca and Carmona will elect its officials for the first time as cities after their voters approved cityhood in separate plebiscites from 2022 to 2023.
Butuan and Taguig increased the number of councilors in its city councils. Butuan now has 12 councilors elected at large from 10, while Taguig now has 12 councilors elected from its two districts, from 8 per district.
All 1,493 municipalities shall hold elections for its elective offices.
The new municipalities of Kadayangan, Kapalawan, Ligawasan, Malidegao, Nabalawag, Old Kaabakan, Pahamuddin and Tugunan will elect its officials for the first time after their voters approved incorporation in a 2024 plebiscite.
Maguindanao was a province of the Philippines located in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). From 2014 to 2022, its provincial capital was Buluan, but the legislative branch of government, the Maguindanao Provincial Board, convened at the old provincial capitol in Sultan Kudarat. It bordered Lanao del Sur to the north, Cotabato to the east, Sultan Kudarat to the south, and Illana Bay to the west.
Elections in the Philippines are of several types. The president, vice-president, and the senators are elected for a six-year term, while the members of the House of Representatives, governors, vice-governors, members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, mayors, vice-mayors, members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod/members of the Sangguniang Bayan, barangay officials, and the members of the Sangguniang Kabataan are elected to serve for a three-year term.
The government of the Philippines has three interdependent branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The Philippines is governed as a unitary state under a presidential representative and democratic constitutional republic in which the president functions as both the head of state and the head of government of the country within a pluriform multi-party system.
The Philippines is divided into four levels of administrative divisions, with the lower three being defined in the Local Government Code of 1991 as local government units (LGUs). They are, from the highest to the lowest:
The legislative districts of the Philippines are the divisions of the Philippines' provinces and cities for representation in the various legislative bodies. Congressional districts are for House of Representatives, while there are districts for Sangguniang Panlalawigan, and some Sangguniang Panlungsod. For purposes of representation, the Senate, most Sangguniang Panlungsod, Sangguniang Bayan, Sangguniang Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan are all elected at-large, although there were districts for the Senate from 1916 to 1935.
Sangguniang Panlalawigan, commonly known as the Provincial Board, are the legislatures in Philippine provinces. They are the legislative branches of the provinces, and their powers and responsibilities are defined by the Local Government Code of 1991. Along with the provincial governor, the executive branch of the province, they form the province's government.
The Sangguniang Bayan is the local legislative branch of the municipal governments in the Philippines. It is responsible for passing ordinances and resolutions for the administration of a municipality. Its powers are defined by the Local Government Code, passed by Congress in 1991.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) is the local legislative body of a city government in the Philippines. The name of the legislative body comes from the Filipino words "sanggunian" ("council") – ultimately from the root word "sangguni" – both of Tagalog origins, with the latter word also of Kapampangan and Old Tagalog origins, and "lungsod" ("city") of both Tagalog – but ultimately Bisayan – origins; "city council" is therefore often used as an equivalent term in English or Philippine English. Members of the city council are referred to as "kagawad"; while in mostly but not only predominantly Bisayan-speaking cities, they are called "konsehal" (masc.) and "konsehala" (fem.), or "sehal".
In the Philippines, local government is divided into three levels: provinces and independent cities, component cities and municipalities, and barangays, all of which are collectively known as local government units (LGUs). In some areas, above provinces and independent chartered cities are autonomous regions, such as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Some towns and cities remit their revenue to national government and is returned through the national government through a process called internal revenue allotment. Below barangays in some cities and municipalities are sitios and puroks. All of these, with the exception of sitios and puroks, elect their own executives and legislatures. Sitios and puroks are often but not necessarily led by an elected barangay councilor.
Barangay elections are elections in the Philippines in the barangays, the smallest of the administrative divisions in the Philippines. Barangays make up cities and municipalities and in turn are made up of sitios and puroks, whose leaders are not elected. Voters of each barangay over 18 years old are eligible to vote for one barangay captain and seven barangay councilors. Together, the barangay captain and barangay councilors make up the Sangguniang Barangay. Voters aged 15 to 30 years old vote in elections for the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK): one SK chairperson and seven SK councilors during the same election. The winning SK chairperson serves as a member of the barangay council.
Local elections were held in the Philippines on May 13, 2013, the same day and on the same ballot as national elections. Elected were governors, mayors and council members of Philippine provinces, Philippine cities and Philippine municipalities. Separate elections for barangay officials were held on October.
The local elections of Valencia City was held on May 13, 2013 in conjunction with the Philippine general election. The voters elected several local posts in the city: the mayor, vice mayor, and ten members of the sangguniang panlungsod. Each official is elected publicly to a 3-year term and can be re-elected up to 3 terms in succession.
Sectoral representation in the Philippines refers to the now abolished system of representation in the Batasang Pambansa, then the House of Representatives of the Philippines. This has been replaced with party-list representation in the House of Representatives of the Philippines.
A general election in the Philippines took place on May 9, 2016, for executive and legislative branches for all levels of government – national, provincial, and local, except for the barangay officials.
Barangay elections in the Philippines were held on May 14, 2018. The election elected the Punong Barangay, more commonly known as barangay captains, and members of the Sangguniang Barangay, or barangay council, in 41,948 barangays (villages) throughout the country whose terms start on June 30, 2018. Barangays are the smallest local government unit in the Philippines.
Local elections in the Philippines were held on May 9, 2016. This was conducted together with the 2016 general election for national positions. All elected positions above the barangay (village) level were disputed.
Local elections in the Philippines were held on May 13, 2019. This was conducted together with the 2019 general election for national positions. All elected positions above the barangay (village) level were disputed. The following positions were disputed:
Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) in the Philippines were held on October 30, 2023. The elected barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials already and legally began their terms earlier at noon on January 1, 2023, and thus took office as soon as they were proclaimed to have won their respective positions. The barangay is the smallest administrative division in the country.
The Maguindanao Provincial Board was the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of the Philippine province of Maguindanao.
Local elections in the Philippines took place on May 9, 2022. These were conducted together with the 2022 general election for national positions. All elected positions above the barangay (village) level but below the regional level were disputed. The following 18,180 positions will be disputed: