2025 Bangsamoro Parliament Election

The 2025 Bangsamoro Parliament election is scheduled to take place in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) on October 13 under the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the charter of the autonomous region of the Philippines.

This election will be the first regular election for the Bangsamoro Parliament and would succeed the interim Bangsamoro Transition Authority Parliament.

The postponement of the elections from 2022 to 2025, was caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and consequentially the absence of a Bangsamoro Electoral Code. The interim regional government and advocacy groups in Mindanao successfully campaigned to move the date of the elections.

Background

Interim parliament

When Bangsamoro was formed in 2019, the Bangsamoro Transition Authority served as an interim government of the autonomous region, and also acted as its interim parliament. The interim government is not officially divided through political party affiliation but is instead divided into two groups according to the nominating entity; the majority are nominees of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, while the rest are nominees of the Philippine national government.

Under the law which postponed the elections to 2025, the President of the Philippines may appoint a new set of members for the interim parliament whose term will run until June 30, 2025.

Initial postponement

Originally scheduled to be held on May 9, 2022, the Bangsamoro Parliament elections was postponed. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the region was cited as justification, which led to the non-passage of a Bangsamoro Electoral Code. The electoral code would be the regional legislation that would define the parliamentary districts for the purpose of the regional elections. The electoral code would be legislated using data from the 2020 census which was likewise affected by the pandemic. In order for the elections to be postponed, the Bangsamoro Organic Law needs to be amended.

The Bangsamoro interim government and some advocacy groups in Mindanao campaigned for the postponement of the polls. Interim Chief Minister Murad Ebrahim reasoned that three years is not enough to restructure the region's government, and that the COVID-19 pandemic and delays on the release of the region's budget caused the delay in the transition process. The postponement also received opposition. Kusug Tausug in the House of Representatives believed that postponing the elections tantamount to justifying the interim Bangsamoro government's performance which it found inadequate. Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan also opposed the extension since he wanted elected officials to lead the region by 2022.

In the Congress, there was a debate if it would be necessary to hold a plebiscite for the potential postponement of the Bangsamoro elections. The National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections, amid talks on the possible postponement of the elections, wanted the polls to be "desynchronized" or be held in a different date from the national elections since a new electoral system would be used for the regional elections.

The Senate approved on final reading Senate Bill No. 2214 on September 6, 2021, proposing the postponement of elections to 2025. A counterpart bill in the House of Representatives was approved on September 15. As the two bills were different, it had to be reconciled in a conference committee before being submitted for the president's signature for it to become law, and for it to actually postpone the election. While both bills gave the president of the Philippines the power to appoint the members for the 2019–2022 term, the House bill gave the incumbent president Rodrigo Duterte that power, while the Senate bill gave the winner of the 2022 presidential election that power. In late September, both chambers ratified the conference committee's version of the bill, giving the winning president in the 2022 election the power to appoint the members of the next transitional parliament.

President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law on October 28 the bill postponing the elections to 2025. However Duterte's successor was given the ability still change the parliament's whole composition once they assume office.

Second interim parliament

Duterte's successor President Bongbong Marcos appointed a new set of members for the interim parliament. Forty-nine were reappointed while are 31 new members. The composition of 41 MILF nominees and 39 government nominees were still retained.

Exclusion of Sulu from Bangsamoro and second postponement

In September 2024, Sulu province was excluded from Bangsamoro by a Supreme Court ruling consequentially excluding it from the 2025 elections, citing that its inclusion in the BARMM was unconstitutional as most of its residents voted against joining the region in the 2019 Bangsamoro autonomy plebiscite. The ruling has led to uncertainty regarding the fate of seven seats allotted to Sulu in the Bangsamoro Parliament.

On October 22, 2024, the Bangsamoro Transition Authority adopted a resolution requesting the national Congress to move the election to 2028 on account of Sulu's exclusion from the BARMM. On November 4, 2024, Senate President Chiz Escudero filed Senate bill 2862, which called for the election to be postponed to May 11, 2026 in order for the BARMM "to reconfigure its jurisdictions as well as reallocate" its parliamentary seats following the exclusion of Sulu. A separate bill was also filed in the House of Representatives to postpone the election until 2026 by Speaker Martin Romualdez and Lanao del Sur representative Zia Alonto Adiong.

A group of 35 civil society organizations in Mindanao opposed the postponement of the election and were also critical on the progress of decommissioning of the MILF as an armed rebel group. Maguindanao del Sur governor Mariam Mangudadatu said that there has been fatal skirmishes involving the MILF since 2022, questioning their legitimacy since their leadership in the transition government would consequentially be extended if the elections is postponed. She also brought up a pledge by president Bongbong Marcos that the election will be held as planned in 2025.

The Bangsamoro regional government has expressed openness to the postponement stating that it is deferring the "sound discretion" of the national Congress. Concerns were largely on the disentrancement of voters in Sulu, especially in the event the Supreme Court reverse its decision. Mohagher Iqbal of the MILF and also a parliament member was surprised of the initiative of the national congress believing that it would be advantageous to the United Bangsamoro Justice Party, the MILF's party, if the election would be held as planned in 2025. On November 21, Basilan governor Hadjiman Hataman Salliman, Maguindanao del Norte Governor Abdulraof Macacua, and Tawi-Tawi Governor Yshmael Sali issued a joint statement supporting the postponement, citing the need to address the distribution of parliamentary seats following the exclusion of Sulu.

On February 16, 2025, COMELEC announced the suspension of ballot-printing for the election after a bicameral conference committee in Congress approved the postponement of the vote. On February 19, President Bongbong Marcos signed into law Republic Act No. 12123, officially moving the date of the election to October 13, 2025.

Electoral system

A total of 80 seats will be contested in the 2025 Bangsamoro elections. The final composition of the parliament after the elections should satisfy the following:

* One half (40 seats) shall be representatives of political parties elected through a system of proportional representation.
* Not more than 40 percent (32 seats) of the members of the parliament shall be elected from single member districts.
* Reserved seats and sectoral representatives shall constitute at least 10 percent, which in any case should be no less than 8 seats.

The Bangsamoro parliamentary districts were defined on February 28, 2024 via Bangsamoro Act No. 58. The parliamentary districts exist independently from the congressional districts used to determine representation in the national House of Representatives.

*Basilan – 3 districts
*Lanao del Sur – 8 districts
*Maguindanao del Norte – 4 districts
*Maguindanao del Sur – 4 districts
*Sulu – 7 districts (not for contention after Sulu's exclusion in September 2024)
*Tawi Tawi – 3 districts
*Cotabato City – 2 districts
*Special Geographic Area – 1 district

The following is the distribution for the sectoral representatives seats:

*Non-Moro Indigenous Peoples (NMIP) – 2 seats
*Settler Communities – 2 seats
*Women – 1 seat
*Youth – 1 seat
*Traditional leaders – 1 seat
*Ulama – 1 seat

The NMIPs, Traditional leaders, and Ulama representatives shall be elected in their own convention/assembly separate from the parliamentary elections. The names of the elected representatives should be submitted to the Commission on Elections seven days prior to the parliamentary elections and would be proclaimed simultaneously with the rest of the elected members of parliament.

Ballots for the election will include candidates’ photos and the official logos of political parties.

Calendar

Timetable

The period for the filing of candidacies in the election was initially scheduled from October 1-8, 2024. However, the Commission on Elections subsequently moved the date to November 4-9, 2024 due to the exclusion of Sulu from the BARMM by the Supreme Court.

Parties

Background

When the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) was asked in May 2021 if they would participate in the not-yet-postponed Bangsamoro elections, they said that they were "ready" but expressed preference that "there would be no election yet", so that they would keep focused on "the delivery of basic services" to residents of Bangsamoro. The UBJP is an affiliate of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, whose nominees form the majority of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority Parliament.

On April 24, 2024, the Bangsamoro Peoples Party (BPP), the Al Ittihad-UKB Party and the Serbisyong Inklusibo–Alyansang Progresibo (SIAP) formed an electoral alliance for the 2025 election.

Eligible parties should have at least 10,000 members with chapters throughout the Bangsamoro region. This prerequisite remains despite Sulu's exclusion from Bangsamoro in September 2024.

Contesting parties

Eight parties have registered with the Commission on Elections as of March 2024. On May 18, 2024, Sulu governor Abdusakur Mahail Tan announced that he would forego another term as governor in the 2025 local election and challenge Murad Ebrahim as Chief Minister during a rally in Maimbung. He received support from the BARMM Grand Coalition. However, Tan became ineligible to run for chief minister following the Supreme Court decision excluding Sulu from the BARMM on September 9, 2024.

Sixteen political groups sought accreditation for the purpose of parliamentary election. The BARMM Grand Coalition (BGC) registered as a regional party and not as a coalition, although two of its members Al-Ittihad-UKB and SIAP also sought separate accreditations.

As of November 5, 2024, there are eight accredited regional parties, including the BGC.

;Approved parties

;Rejected parties

Elections

Single member district

;Contesting parties by parliamentary district

Proportional representation

;First nominees

;Sex ratio of nominees
The following are regional political parties vying for representation via proportional representation.

Sectoral representatives

Non-Moro Indigenous Peoples

Traditional leaders

The traditional leaders sector represent the royal sultanates in Bangsamoro. The following institutions are explicitly named in Section 31 of the Bangsamoro Electoral Code.

* Sulu Sultanate (unclear in the context of Sulu province's exclusion from Bangsamoro in September 2024)
*Maguindanao, Kabuntalan, and Buayan Sultanates
* Royal House of Ranao
*Royal House of Iranun

Ulama

Notes

References

External links

BARMM extension bill tracker
from the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

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Bangsamoro Parliament election
Elections in Bangsamoro
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Elections postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Legislative elections in the Philippines