1965 Philippine Senate election


A senatorial election was held on November 9, 1965 in the Philippines. The Nacionalista Party wrestled back control of the Senate; originally a Liberal, [President of the Senate of the Philippines|Senate of the Philippines|Senate President] Ferdinand Marcos defected to the Nacionalistas, became their presidential candidate and won this year's election.
After the election, the Senate emerged with 12 Liberals on one side, and 11 Nacionalistas and 1 Nationalist Citizens' Party caucusing with them on the other.

Electoral system

Philippine Senate elections are held via plurality block voting with staggered elections, with the country as an at-large district. The Senate has 24 seats, of which 8 seats are up every 2 years. The eight seats up were last contested in 1959; each voter has eight votes and can vote up to eight names, of which the eight candidates with the most votes winning the election.

Retiring incumbents

  1. Fernando Lopez, ran for vice president and won
  2. Ferdinand Marcos, ran for president and won

Mid-term vacancies

  1. Mariano Jesús Cuenco, died on February 25, 1964
  2. Eulogio Rodriguez, died on December 9, 1964

Other incumbents running elsewhere

These ran in the middle of their Senate terms. For those losing in their respective elections, they can still return to the Senate to serve out their term, while the winners will vacate their Senate seats, then it would have been contested in a special election concurrently with the next general election.
  1. Gerardo Roxas, ran for vice president and lost

Results

The Nacionalista Party won five seats, the Liberal Party won two seats, and the Nationalist Citizens' Party won one.
NCP's Lorenzo Tañada, and Nacionalistas Alejandro Almendras and Genaro Magsaysay all defended their seats.
Five winners are neophyte senators. These are Dominador Aytona, Eva Estrada Kalaw, and Wenceslao Lagumbay of the Nacionalistas, and Liberals Sergio Osmeña Jr. and Jovito Salonga.
Estanislao Fernandez of the Liberal Party lost his seat.
Key:
  • ‡ Seats up
  • + Gained by a party from another party
  • √ Held by the incumbent
  • * Held by the same party with a new senator
  • ^ Vacancy

Defeated incumbents

  1. Estanislao Fernandez, appointed as associate justice of the Supreme Court in 1973, ran for member of parliament from Region IV–A in 1978 and won