Shawdesh desk:

The daughter of outgoing Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will run for vice president in elections next May, the government’s official election monitor said Saturday.

The Commission on Elections announced on its official Facebook page that Sara Duterte would be running for the post, replacing another candidate.

Her surprise move came days before the November 15 deadline for candidates to make a late entry into the 2022 elections.

Sara Duterte had been widely expected to run for president in a bid to succeed her father, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a second six-year term.

For months, she had insisted she wanted to serve another term as Davao City mayor, the family’s southern bailiwick, despite consistently leading in surveys of voter preferences for the next president.

Speculation about her plans intensified this week after she suddenly withdrew from the mayoral contest, quit her regional party and joined Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, the national political party of her close ally and former president Gloria Arroyo.

“I thank my supporters. I hope whatever happens in the next few days, I will be able to give them what they want,” she told reporters Thursday.