1981 Philippine presidential election and referendum

1981 Philippine presidential election

← 1969 June 16, 1981 1986 →
Turnout	80.9% (1.3pp)
Candidate Ferdinand Marcos Alejo Santos Party KBL Nacionalista Popular vote 18,309,360 1,716,449 Percentage 88.02% 8.25%
Election result per province. Marcos won in every province, city, and municipality.
President before election Ferdinand Marcos KBL Elected President Ferdinand Marcos KBL
June 1981 Philippine referendum
June 16, 1981
Should there be barangay elections right after the presidential elections?
Outcome	Proposal carried
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 16,268,523 81.09% No 3,793,322 18.91% Valid votes 20,061,845 91.84% Invalid or blank votes 1,781,984 8.16% Total votes 21,843,829 100.00%

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The 1981 Philippine presidential election and national referendum was held on June 16, 1981. President Ferdinand E. Marcos of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) defeated retired general and World War II veteran Alejo Santos of the Nacionalista Party in a landslide victory. Most opposition parties boycotted the election as a sign of protest over the 1978 election for the Interim Batasang Pambansa (National Assembly), which they condemned as fraudulent. At the same time, a national referendum was held on the question in holding elections for barangay elections in 1982.

Marcos' 80% margin of victory is the most lopsided Philippine presidential election ever, beating out Manuel L. Quezon's landslide victory of 64% in 1941. Marcos getting 88% of the vote is also the largest in Philippine presidential election history, also beating Quezon's 1941 record of 82%. This is also the most votes received by a person in the Philippines for a single-winner election until 2022 when Sara Duterte won 32 million votes; for multiple-winner elections, it was beaten by Mar Roxas in 2004 with 19 million votes. This was also the presidential election with the most number of candidates, with 13, although nine candidates with the fewest votes collectively just got 0.13% of the vote.

Marcos would have served another six-year term ending in 1987, but it was cut short by the 1986 snap election that eventually resulted in his ouster in the People Power Revolution.