The first parliamentary election in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has produced a hung parliament, with unofficial results showing that no party secured the majority needed to govern alone.
The result leaves the two rival parties that emerged from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front facing coalition negotiations in the southern Philippines’ Muslim-majority autonomous region.
Rival former front factions must work with other parties
The Bangsamoro Federalist Party is led by Abdulraof Macacua, whom President Ferdinand Marcos Jr appointed chief minister last year after replacing longtime Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim. The change deepened divisions within the region, according to the account of the election.
Macacua said a coalition with other parties was “an unavoidable situation”. Murad, who leads the United Bangsamoro Justice Party, said before the result that his party would seek allies if it did not win enough seats to govern by itself. Read the context: Families and Australia call for justice after methanol poisoning kills teenagers in Laos.
Key figures
- More than 99 percent of votes had been counted as of Tuesday evening.
- The parliament has 80 seats.
- A party needs 41 seats for a majority.
- The two leading parties each had more than 30 percent of the vote in the partial count.
Security remains a concern after a largely peaceful vote
Authorities described the election as generally peaceful, but multiple shooting incidents on election day killed at least three people and wounded several others. Brigadier General Jemuel Siason, deputy police director of the Bangsamoro region, said security forces would remain deployed after the winners were proclaimed to help keep the situation stable.
The election follows a 2014 peace agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The front became the region’s interim government after voters approved the autonomous region in 2019, but the disarming of former fighters has stopped while the front says promised government aid has not been delivered.
Residents link the vote to unfinished recovery
For residents who lived through conflict, the election is tied to hopes for lasting peace and reconstruction. Families described displacement, destroyed homes and continued hardship after ISIL-linked fighters briefly took control of a town in 2016 and laid siege to Marawi City the following year.
Some displaced families have returned, while others remain in temporary shelters. Analyn Pangandaman said her family has waited nearly nine years for government reparation needed to rebuild, and hopes elected parties will cooperate on peace, progress and compensation.
What happens next
Security forces are expected to maintain their deployment in the days after the election and after the proclamation of winners, while parties begin considering coalition arrangements.
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