Former Muslim rebels lead results in first election held in southern Philippine region

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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Candidates from two rival parties associated with a former rebel group led the first elections in a predominately Muslim region in the southern Philippines, official results showed Wednesday.

The election was a significant step forward for self-rule in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which was rocked by deadly separatist uprisings for decades until a 2014 peace deal in which Muslim rebels agreed to lay down their arms in exchange for a promise of autonomy.

Parties linked to the former Moro Islamic Liberation Front led the polls, though none took a big majority. It remains unclear which camp will dominate the regional parliament.

Under the peace deal, the autonomous region replaced an older autonomous region with a larger, better-funded and more powerful area. In exchange, the Moro Front’s 40,000 fighters would be “demobilized” and given livelihoods and other help to resume normal life.

Since the 1970s, about 150,000 combatants and civilians have died in the southern Philippines, while development was stunted in the country’s poorest region. With bombing attacks and kidnappings, Mindanao was seen as a haven for al-Qaida and the Islamic State group until a U.S.-backed Philippine offensive weakened the militants.

Commission on Elections Chairman Erwin Garcia said the final voter turnout was 84% of nearly 2.4 million voters. The region covers five provinces, three cities and 63 villages.

The Bangsamoro Federalist Party, headed by the region's transitional Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua, was ahead with nearly 36% of votes, winning 31 of the parliament's 80 seats, based on official results released by the commission. Macacua used to be the rebel group’s military chief.

The BFP was followed by the United Bangsamoro Justice Party, led by Moro Front chairman and former Interim Chief Minister Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim, with more than 32% of votes and a total of 30 seats.

BFP and UBJP were among four regional parties that met the 2.5% voter threshold required to get a seat in the Bangsamoro parliament.

The members of parliament will assume office on Oct. 30 and elect the region’s chief minister, who also serves as head of the executive department. A simple majority of 41 votes is needed.

Murad, in a statement posted on his Facebook page on Monday, said with the region’s first election, “we begin a new chapter toward a government with stronger leadership, true service, and focused on every community and village in our homeland.”

He said the government “comes after a long struggle that is now being lived through democracy.”

In May 2017, IS-linked militants laid siege to the city of Marawi, triggering five months of ground assaults and airstrikes that left more than 1,100 people, mostly militants, dead and destroyed the mosque-studded city’s commercial and residential districts.