The candidates of four big political groups are expected to fight it out in vote-rich Cavite.

The four are Liberal Party (LP) with Senator Noynoy Aquino as standard-bearer, Nacionalista Party of Senator Manuel B. Villar Jr., Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) of former President Estrada and Lakas-Kampi-CMD of former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro.

The officials and the electorate considered the candidates of the four groups as provincial election favorites. LP and NP have fielded the most number of candidates in Cavite, a province with the highest number of registered voters in the country.

Lawyer Juanito V. Ravanzo Jr., local Commission on Elections (Comelec) supervisor, said there are over 1.6 million voters in the province’s 19 towns and four cities.

Ravanzo said there are six groups vying in the electoral race in the province. The two others are Alpha Omega 9-K and the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL).

Comelec Assistants Maria Rowena Jarin and Melenita Alfider said eighty-three candidates are competing for 23 provincial positions in Cavite.

LP has fielded 18 candidates, NP 16, Lakas-Kampi 13, PMP 11, AO-9K 8, KBL 3 and Aksyon Demokratiko 1. The rest of the candidates are running as independents, it was learned.

Ravanzo said no candidate is running unopposed in any elective positions in the province.

The electorate considered incumbent Vice Governor Dencito Campaña of LP, former Vice Governor Juanito Victor Remulla of NP and Trece Martires City Mayor Melencio de Sagun of PMP as top contenders in the gubernatorial race. For vice-governor are Bimbo Bautista of NP, Recto Cantimbuhan of LP, Rogelio A. Pureza of PMP.

The electorate is expecting a neck-and-neck race among the candidates.

The political mettle of Campaña will be tested against Remulla, who is the youngest gubernatorial candidate, and Sagun, the so-called dark horse in the race.

Campaña, a former board member, was unopposed when he ran for vice governor in 2007 elections. Remulla, 42, was vice governor for three terms, starting in 1998, while Sagun was elected three times as mayor of Trece Martires, the site of the Cavite Provincial Capitol.

They will fight for the post that would be vacated by Governor Ayong S. Maliksi. Maliksi, who was elected for three terms in the top provincial position, is running for congressman in the newly-reconstituted district of Imus, the province’s capital.

Other notable candidates in the province are movie and television personality Lani-Mercado, wife of Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., who is vying for a congressional seat in Bacoor; 2nd District Rep. Elpidio Barzaga who will for congressman in the new Dasmariñas City district and movie character actor John Regala who is vying for a board seat in Imus district.

Ravanzo said earlier he sees HOPE (an acronym for happy, orderly and peaceful elections) with the candidates vying for various positions in the province.