Draw lots to settle mayoral race in Palawan town as race ends in a tie

The mayoral post in Araceli, Palawan will be settled via draw lots between rivals Sue Cudilla of Partido Pagbabago ng Palawan and Noel Beronio of ruling-party PDP-Laban.

This developed after the May 2019 mayoral race involving the mayoral candidates ended in a tie with each of them getting 3,495 votes based on the Election Returns sent to the Commission on Elections' transparency server.

Under the Omnibus Election Code, the local board of canvassers—after recording candidates ending up tied in its minutes—should by resolution and upon five days notice to all the tied candidates, hold a special public meeting at which the board of canvassers should proceed to the drawing of lots of the candidates who have tied.

Further, the law states that “the local board of canvassers should proclaim as elected the candidates who may be favored by luck, and the candidates so proclaimed should have the right to assume office in the same manner as if he had been elected by plurality of vote.”

This provision of the law, however, does not prevent the candidate to protest his or her election defeat resulting from the raffle.

During the 2016 polls, the mayoral race in Bocaue, Bulacan was also settled after three flips of a coin since Liberal party's Joni Villanueva and her opponent, independent candidate Jim Valerio, both got 16,694 votes.

The camp of Villanueva chose tail while Valerio's camp chose head. After three rounds of toss coin, Villanueva won and was proclaimed mayor.

Villanueva is the sister of Senator Joel Villanueva and daughter of evangelist Bro. Eddie Villanueva who is the leader of religious group Jesus Is Lord Movement. — MDM, GMA News