Philippines’ Muslim-majority Bangsamoro region votes for first parliament
Nearly 2.4 million voters in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao cast ballots in the first parliamentary elections since the region was created in 2019. The vote, intended to complete the transition to a regional government, was marred by deadly violence and irregularities in parts of the south a day before polling began.
Why It Matters
These elections conclude the Bangsamoro Transition Authority era and will install a regional parliament empowered to choose the chief minister, a pivotal step in implementing a long-running peace agreement and shifting governance in a region long affected by insurgency.
Key Facts
- Voters: Nearly 2.4 million registered in BARMM
- Seats: 80 seats total: 40 party, 32 district, 8 sectoral
- Polling end time: 7:00pm local time (11:00 GMT)
- Violence - Cotabato City: A shooting late Sunday killed 3 and injured 15; an IED blast injured the carrier; another gunshot caused no injuries
- Ballot irregularities - Maluso, Basilan: Pre-shaded ballots found in 36 of 68 precincts; reprinting ordered and voting delayed in affected areas
Voters across the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) went to the polls to elect the region’s first parliamentary assembly since its formal establishment in 2019. Nearly 2.4 million people were eligible to vote in what authorities have described as a historic test of the region’s new autonomous institutions.
Eighty parliamentary seats were contested: 40 allocated to political party lists, 32 to district representatives and eight to sectoral nominees. The newly elected legislature will convene to select the region’s chief minister, who will head the executive branch. Election officials had aimed for turnout of at least 80 percent after voting was delayed for several years; polling stations were scheduled to close at 7pm local time (11:00 GMT).
The vote was partly overshadowed by violence and voting irregularities a day before polling. The national elections commission said it took control of Cotabato City after a late-Sunday shooting that left three people dead and 15 wounded; separate incidents included an explosion that hurt the person carrying the device and a reported gunshot that caused no injuries. The commission also moved to assume control of Maluso town in Basilan after officials discovered pre-shaded ballots in 36 of 68 precincts; authorities ordered those ballots reprinted and delayed voting in the affected precincts. The Commission on Elections chairman said steps would be taken against those who try to disrupt voting or engage in vote-buying.
The ballot marks the formal end of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, the interim body appointed in 2019 to run the region during the handover. BARMM was created under a 2014 peace agreement that brought former Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters into a political process, including demobilisation and the abandonment of a demand for a separate state. Decades of conflict in the area have been devastating — estimates put fatalities since the 1970s at around 150,000 — and while some parts of the region were once a refuge for extremist groups, overall violence has declined in recent years.
Keep Reading
Heavy rain falls over the Kaaba in Mecca
Protests erupt across Syria over sharp fuel price hikes
Niger mutiny exposes growing reliance on Russia
