First parliamentary elections to be held in Bangsamoro, Philippines
The first parliamentary elections are set to take place on Monday in the autonomous Bangsamoro region in the southern Philippines. Nearly 2.4 million voters will elect 80 members of the regional parliament, Anadolu Agency reports.
These elections are seen as an important step toward self-governance and lasting peace after decades of struggle for autonomy in the region.
80 seats in parliament
Voting will take place from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time. Automated machines, which were already used in the Philippines' midterm elections in May 2025, will be used to count the votes.
Of the 80 seats, 40 are allocated to representatives of political parties, 32 to district representatives, and another eight to representatives of specific sectors. The election commission reserves one seat each for women, youth, traditional leaders and ulema, as well as two seats each for settler communities and non-Moro Indigenous peoples.
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Quota for women and postponements
Under the Bangsamoro Autonomy Act, regional parliamentary parties must ensure that at least 30% of candidates on their lists are women. As far as possible, at least one in every three candidates on a party list must be a woman.
The elections will be held after four postponements. The vote was initially planned for 2022, then rescheduled for May 11, 2025, later moved to October, after which it was postponed again.
The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has about 5 million residents, most of whom are Muslims. It includes five provinces, three cities and 63 villages in eight clusters of special geographic areas.
In January 2019, a referendum approved the Bangsamoro Organic Law, which officially established the Bangsamoro Transition Authority. Murad Ebrahim was appointed the first interim chief minister that same year, and Abdulraof Macacua replaced him in March 2025.
