Article V Suffrage

Article V 
Suffrage

 

Summary: Limited and elitist in character, Article V on suffrage grants to literate male citizens, 21 years old or older the right to vote unless they are disqualified by law. However, this article also provides for women suffrage after the ratification of such proposal in a plebiscite by not less than 300 thousand qualified women voters.

 

SECTION 1. Suffrage may be exercised by male citizens of the Philippines not otherwise disqualified by law, who are twenty-one years of age or over and are able to read and write, and who shall have resided in the Philippines for one year and in the municipality wherein they propose to vote for at least six months preceding the election. The National Assembly shall extend the right of suffrage to women, if in a plebiscite which shall be held for that purpose within two years after the adoption of this Constitution, not less than three hundred thousand women possessing the necessary qualifications shall vote affirmatively on the question.