Philippines postpones elections in Bangsamoro for 3rd time

The Philippine Supreme Court declared Bangsamoro Autonomy Acts 58 and 77 unconstitutional, effectively postponing the first parliamentary elections in Muslim Mindanao, scheduled for Oct. 13, local media reports said on Wednesday.

The Supreme Court ruled that two laws passed by the autonomous authority to create parliamentary districts in the region were unconstitutional and ordered the Commission on Elections to begin and conduct elections by March 31, 2026, according to digital media outlet Rappler.

The election, originally scheduled for 2022, was postponed to May 11 this year, then rescheduled for October, and has now been postponed again.

In January 2019, a referendum approved the "Bangsamoro Organic Law," officially establishing the "Bangsamoro Transition Authority" in the region, following decades of resistance by the Haji Murad Ebrahim-led Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Ebrahim was appointed as interim chief minister of the newly formed Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) by then-President Rodrigo Duterte in February 2019. Earlier this year, Abdulraof Macacua took over the mantle from Ebrahim.

Bangsamoro is home to around 5 million people, the majority of whom are Muslims.