Philippines holding historic election in Muslim autonomous region

Voters in an autonomous southern Philippine region will cast their ballots on Monday in the region’s first parliamentary elections, seen as a crucial step in the quest for self-determination and lasting peace after decades of insurgency and violence.

The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, or BARMM, covers five provinces, three cities and 63 villages across eight special geographic area clusters. It has nearly 2.4 million voters, with election officials aiming for an 80 per cent turnout after polling was postponed for several years.

There are 80 seats at stake in the elections that will determine members of parliament on September 14. These include 40 political party representatives, 32 district representatives and eight sectoral representatives.

Unlike the direct voting under the presidential system of the national government, the region’s chief minister, who heads the executive branch, is not elected by voters. Members of parliament will choose the chief minister from among themselves by a majority vote during their first parliamentary session.

Voters will choose one regional party, one district representative and six sectoral representatives. The 40 regional party-representative seats will be distributed to nominees based on a party’s vote share.

History of strife

Centuries of colonialism by Spain, the US and Filipino Christian settlers turned Muslims into a minority group in resource-rich Mindanao, the southern third of the Philippine archipelago from which the BARMM was carved out. The region has seen decades of intermittent but bloody conflicts over land, resources and political power.