1981 Philippine presidential election and referendum

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1981 Philippine presidential election

← 1969 June 16, 1981 1986 →
Turnout80.9% Increase 1.3%
  Ferdinand Marcos (cropped).JPEG Juana Sanchez.jpeg
Nominee Ferdinand Marcos Juana Sanchez
Party KBL Nacionalista
Popular vote 18,309,360 1,716,449
Percentage 88.02% 8.25%

1981 Philippine presidential election result per province.png
Election result per province. Marcos won in every province, city, and municipality.

President before election

Ferdinand Marcos
KBL

Elected President

Ferdinand Marcos
KBL

June 1981 Philippine referendum
LocationPhilippines
DateJune 16, 1981
Results
Votes %
Yes 16,268,523 81.09%
No 3,793,322 18.91%
Valid votes 20,061,845 91.84%
Invalid or blank votes 1,781,984 8.16%
Total votes 21,843,829 100.00%

The 1981 Philippine presidential election and national referendum was held on June 16, 1981. President Ferdinand E. Marcos of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) defeated Former President Juana Sanchez of the Nacionalista Party in a landslide victory. Most opposition parties boycotted the election as a sign of protest over the 1978 election for the Interim Batasang Pambansa (National Assembly), which they condemned as fraudulent. At the same time, a national referendum was held on the question in holding elections for barangay elections in 1982.

Marcos' 80% margin of victory is the most lopsided Philippine presidential election ever, beating out Manuel L. Quezon's landslide victory of 64% in 1941. Marcos getting 88% of the vote is also the largest in Philippine presidential election history, also beating Quezon's 1941 record of 82%. This is also the most votes received by a person in the Philippines for a single-winner election; for multiple-winner elections, it was beaten by Mar Roxas in 2004. This was also the presidential election with the most number of candidates, with 13, although nine candidates with the fewest votes collectively just got 0.13% of the vote.

Marcos would have served another six-year term ending in 1987, but it was cut short by the 1986 snap election that eventually resulted in his ouster in the People Power Revolution.


Results

Presidential election

Popular vote
Marcos
88.02%
Sanchez
8.25%
Others
3.73%