Barangay elections are elections in the Philippines in the barangays or villages, the smallest government administrative divisions of the Philippines. Barangays make up Philippine cities or Philippine municipalities and are in turn made of up sitios and puroks, whose leaders are not elected. Voters of each barangay over 18 years old vote for one Punong Barangay (barangay chairman) and seven Barangay Kagawad (barangay councilors). Together, the captain and councilors make up the Sangguniang Barangay (Barangay Council). Voters aged 15 to 17 years old vote in elections for the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK): one SK Chairman and seven SK councilors during the same election. The winning SK chairman serves as a member of the barangay council.
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The barangay 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 barangay chairman and seven barangay councilor candidates are not uncommon; SK slates are also sometimes connected to a slate of a barangay chairman. 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, with the national federation president sitting as a member of the National Youth Commission.
History
Since 2007, barangay elections are held every three years on the fourth Monday in October. Elections are held simultaneously nationwide and are supervised by the Commission on Elections, known more commonly as the COMELEC.