Bangsamoro holds its first parliament vote after four postponements
COMELEC ran the poll on 14 September for 78 of 80 seats in the BARMM legislature. Early unofficial tallies put the Bangsamoro Federalist Party and the MILF's United Bangsamoro Justice Party close. Two indigenous seats were filled in August.
Cotabato City2 min read
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The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao voted on Monday in its first parliamentary election, after the date moved four times: May 2022, May 2025, October 2025 and March 2026. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr signed Republic Act 12317 on 25 March 2026 to lock 14 September. COMELEC registered 2,393,530 voters. Seventy-eight of 80 seats were on the ballot. Two non-Moro indigenous seats were chosen at a tribal convention in Cotabato City on 26 August.
Chair George Garcia said almost all precincts opened on time. Some areas in Basilan were late. Voting in Al-Barka, Basilan, was extended to 9 p.m. Garcia said hours can run into the morning if ballots arrive late. Reports of election-related violence circulated in several towns. The commission still described the day as open, not failed.
Who is on the paper
The United Bangsamoro Justice Party is the electoral vehicle of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which signed the peace deal that created BARMM. Murad Ebrahim leads that ticket. The Bangsamoro Federalist Party is headed in public materials by Abdulraof Macacua, the incumbent chief minister and an MILF nominee who now runs on a separate line. Other lists include the BARMM Grand Coalition, the Raayat Democratic Party, Progresibong Bangsamoro, Bangsamoro Party and smaller groups.
Partial unofficial figures posted on Wikipedia's running table on Monday night, citing COMELEC, gave the Federalist Party about 34.9 percent of the party-list vote and UBJP about 32.4 percent, with the Grand Coalition near 20.8 percent, on more than 1.76 million party votes. Those numbers will move. Rappler warned during the afternoon that social-media posts declaring a UBJP sweep were false because the official site was not to show results before polls closed at 7 p.m.
In Tawi-Tawi's first district, former Bongao vice mayor Julbert Que of the Federalist Party led with 49,129 votes on 80 percent of returns against 2,420 for the UBJP's Shirmal Hajim Sabal. Que's brothers already run Bongao as mayor and vice mayor. Winners serve a special term from 30 October 2026 to 30 June 2031.
What the parliament is for
BARMM replaced the old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao after the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro. An appointed parliament and a series of interim chief ministers have run the region since 2019. Monday's vote is the first time residents choose the legislature that will pass the region's laws and pick the next chief minister.
Forty-one seats make a majority in an 80-seat house. With two seats already filled by the tribal convention, the elected 78 decide whether the MILF's party, the Federalist split, or a coalition of clans and smaller lists controls the chamber. That choice is the first electoral test of a peace process built on appointed institutions.
Final results will take days in island provinces. The useful fact on Monday night is that the election happened, that Comelec did not call a failure, and that the two largest Moro parties are close enough that neither can claim the house on the first partial count.
