It was the only time in Philippine history where the duly elected president, vice president and senators all came from the same party, the Liberal Party.
Carlos P. Romulo and Marvin M. Gray, publisher of the Manila Evening News, accuse Quirino in their book The Magsaysay Story (The John Day Company, 1956, updated - with an additional chapter on Magsaysay's death - re-edition by Pocket Books, Special Student Edition, SP-18, December 1957) of widespread fraud and intimidation of the opposition by military action, calling it the "dirty election".
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 won by the 9th to 16th placed candidates in 1946; each voter has eight votes and can vote up to eight names, of which the eight candidates with the most votes winning the election.
Senator Fernando Lopez ran and won in concurrent vice presidential elections. He left office in December 30, 1949, when his vice presidential term started.
^ abcdefghijklmnopThe Liberal Party was split into two wings: those who supported Quirino or the "Quirinitas" or the "Quirino wing", and those who supported Avelino or the "Avelinistas" or the "Avelino wing".
The Liberals originally had 19 seats entering the 2nd Congress, but the election of Senator Fernando Lopez to the vice presidency meant that his seat is vacant until 1951, when it was contested in a special election.
