Barangay elections

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 (barangay council). 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.

Barangay captains and SK chairmen are elected via first-past-the-post voting system, while barangay and SK councilors are elected via the plurality-at-large voting system with one barangay as an at-large "district".

While candidates are nominally nonpartisan and do not represent political parties, slates consisting of a candidate for a barangay captain and seven barangay councilor candidates are not uncommon; SK slates are also sometimes connected to a slate of a barangay captain. Winning candidates serve for a term of three years, with reelection of up to two more times. Terms of office for barangay officials are usually extended when elections are postponed as a cost-saving measure.

Winning barangay captains in a certain municipality or city elect amongst themselves an Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) president that will serve as their representative in the Sangguniang Bayan (municipal council) or Sangguniang Panlungsod (city council). ABC presidents in a certain province will elect amongst their representative in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial board). ABC presidents in provincial boards and city councils not under a jurisdiction of a province elect amongst themselves a national president and other officials of the League of Barangays of the Philippines.

SK chairmen undergo a similar series of indirect elections at every level, although there is no national leadership at the beginning of 2018.

History
In a 1981 referendum, the electorate was asked if barangay elections should be done after the concurrently-held presidential election; the electorate carried the proposal. The Barangay Election Act of 1982 prescribed that the election shall be on May 17, 1982, terms start on June 7, and that terms shall be for six years.

Postponing barangay elections was done several times despite the 1987 Constitution and special laws like the Local Government Code of 1991 but in 2023, the Supreme Court held that the succeeding synchronized Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) shall be held on the first Monday of December 2025, and every three (3) years thereafter, pursuant to Republic Act No. 11462. The SC Public Information Office added: "More significantly, the said Decision laid down the criteria to serve as guidelines and principles for the bench, the bar, and the public as regards any government action that seeks to postpone any elections."

According to law expert Michael Henry Yusingco, political dynasties continue to victimize barangay elections, the latest results of which made genuine political competition impossible.