Filipinos elected a new Congress and local governments on May 13th in what Benigno Aquino, the president, called a referendum on his administration, now halfway through its six-year term. Mr Aquino set out to save the country from its twin curses of corruption and poverty. The election results show the voters still think this is a good idea in theory, although they have yet to see what it looks like in practice. Half the seats in the Senate and all the seats in the House of Representatives were up for grabs. Partial results indicated that the pro-government alliance would dominate both houses, just as it dominated the last Congress. A presidential spokesman claimed victory for the government, saying that Filipinos had "spoken overwhelmingly to confirm and expand the mandate for reform and change that they first granted in 2010 to President Aquino".
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