Arya News - No party wins majority in first parliamentary polls in southern Philippines’ Muslim-majority region, unofficial results show.
Marawi City, Philippines – The first parliamentary election in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in the southern Philippines has resulted in a hung parliament as no single party managed to secure a majority, according to unofficial results.
With more than 99 percent of votes counted as of Tuesday evening, the two rival parties that emerged from the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front each had more than 30 percent of the vote, showed the partial count of GMA News, one of the country’s largest news networks. Neither secured the 41 seats needed for a majority in the 80-member parliament.
The front signed a peace agreement with the Philippine government in 2014 after decades of conflict for independence and self-governance. It served as an interim government after voters approved the autonomous region in 2019. But last year, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr replaced longtime Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim with Abdulraof Macacua, a former front commander, as chief minister, in a move that worsened internal divisions in the Muslim-majority region.
A Muslim woman voter shows the indelible ink on her fingers after voting [Richel V.Umel/AP Photo] Macacua, who leads the Bangsamoro Federalist Party, has acknowledged that a coalition with other parties is “an unavoidable situation” following Monday’s vote.
Ebrahim told reporters after casting his ballot that he hoped his party – the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) – would clinch most of the seats, but expressed openness to negotiating with other parties.
“If the party does not get majority of the seats, we will look for parties who can be our allies so that we can form a coalition,” Murad said.
Some voters had feared a return to fighting if the UBJP failed to get a commanding lead, especially because the front has halted the disarming of former fighters, citing the government’s failure to provide aid as promised.
“One of the commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has said that if they don’t win the election, there might be war again,” Alinair Aracaya said.
The commander he was referring to was 64-year-old Abdullah Macapaar – also known as Commander Bravo and notorious for being one of the most defiant front leaders. On Monday, Macapaar, who was also running to become a member of parliament, voted for the first time in his life.
In a Facebook post, Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, who led peace negotiations with the front on behalf of the government, commended the participating parties “for their great effort to build their capacity to enter the field of electoral politics and play by the rules of the electoral process”.
Authorities said the elections were generally peaceful, but security forces will remain on high alert in the coming days. Multiple shooting incidents on election day left at least three people dead and several wounded.
“We will still hold our deployment in place even after the proclamation of winners. We are trying to ensure that the security situation will remain stable,” said Brigadier General Jemuel Siason, deputy police director of the Bangsamoro region.
After years of negotiations, the Philippine government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front signed a peace agreement that paved the way for autonomy in the region.
Voter Aracaya’s wife, Norhailyn Madayan, remembers a childhood spent fleeing conflict. “Just the sight of soldiers terrified us because that meant there might be clashes again. There were also clan wars,” Madayan said.
Aracaya and Madayan said peace has allowed them to build a life. They have a thriving business and a newly constructed concrete home. But they also say peace has been fragile. In 2016, ISIL-linked fighters briefly took control of their town.
The following year, the same group laid siege to Marawi City. The military responded with air attacks.
Asraf Balt, a resident, was only nine years old at the time. But because shots rang out every now and then, he said he did not immediately realise the gravity of the situation until he saw what happened to their home.
“We got displaced, and our house got destroyed. Like, heavily destroyed to the point that we had to rebuild it,” Balt said. His family has moved back to their home, but hundreds of others remain in temporary shelters.
Analyn Pangandaman said her family cannot afford to rebuild their home without reparation from the government. She has been waiting to get compensated for nearly nine years.
Now, she says, she cannot even visit her mother, even if she lives just a few towns away.
“I used to see my parents a lot, but I don’t any more because I can’t afford the commute. We used to be able to visit them because we had a car,” Pangandaman said.
With the Bangsamoro region having been able to conclude its first election, Pangandaman hopes to receive what the government owes her family soon. And it’s only possible, she says, if winning parties set aside differences and work together towards peace and progress.
An elections worker places indelible ink on the finger of a man after voting at the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region [Richel V.Umel/AP Photo]