Bangsamoro Holds First Parliamentary Vote for 80 Seats as Violence Hits 2 Polling Areas
Updated
Updated · Al Jazeera English · Sep 14
Bangsamoro Holds First Parliamentary Vote for 80 Seats as Violence Hits 2 Polling Areas
3 articles · Updated · Al Jazeera English · Sep 14
Summary
Nearly 2.4 million voters in the Bangsamoro autonomous region began casting ballots Monday in the first parliamentary election since BARMM was created in 2019, choosing 80 lawmakers in a milestone for self-rule.
80 seats are being contested across party, district and sectoral lists, and the new parliament will later elect the chief minister, ending the transition under the interim Bangsamoro Transition Authority.
Cotabato City was placed under Commission on Elections control after a shooting killed three people and wounded 15 on Sunday, while a separate blast injured the person carrying an improvised bomb.
Maluso in Basilan was also put under election control after pre-shaded ballots were found in 36 of 68 precincts, forcing immediate reprinting and delaying voting there.
The vote stems from a 2014 peace deal under which former MILF rebels accepted broader autonomy instead of a separate state, after a conflict since the 1970s that killed about 150,000 people.