BARMM parties vow peaceful regional polls

DAVAO CITY—Leaders of eight political parties in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) are set to join next year’s first-ever parliamentary elections in region, with a promise to work together to make the historic polls honest, credible and peaceful.

The party leaders gathered here on Monday for a closed-door forum under the auspices of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), a United Kingdom public body working to strengthen democratic governance and open societies around the world. It has assisted in strengthening the Bangsamoro parliament as well as supporting the development of the region’s political party system.

The party leaders, in a postforum press briefing, said they unified to “defend election integrity” in the BARMM set alongside the 2025 midterm elections.

This will be the first time that the BARMM will be electing its parliament members. The Bangsamoro region, established in 2019 as a result of the 2014 peace accord reached between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), is currently operated by an interim parliament composed of presidential appointees.

Registered

Under its charter, the BARMM has an 80-member legislature, 40 seats to be filled by party representatives, 32 by parliamentary district representatives and eight by sectoral representatives.

All eight political parties in the BARMM have registered with the Commission on Elections and ready to field candidates in next year’s elections.

These are the United Bangsamoro Justice Party, composed mainly of MILF personalities and led by BARMM interim Chief Minister Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim; Bangsamoro Peoples Party (BPP), led by former officials of the defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao; Bangsamoro Party (BaPa), composed of people identified with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) faction led by BARMM Labor Minister Muslimin Sema; Rayyat Development Party (RDP) led by current member of parliament (MP) Jose Lorena, who used to be a lawyer and peace negotiator for the MNLF; Al-Ittihad Mindanawe Darussalam-Ungaya Ku Kawagibu Bangsamoro, organized by now Technical Education and Skills Development Authority director general Suharto Mangudadatu and some former leaders of the MILF and MNLF; Serbisyong Inklusibo-Alyansang Progresibo (Siap), organized by Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr.; Mahardika, composed of people identified by MNLF founding chair Nur Misuari; and Indigenous Peoples Democratic Party, composed of Teduray, Lambangian and other non-Moro indigenous tribes in the region and led by MP Froilyn Mendoza.

Credible polls

BARMM Deputy Speaker Omar Yasser Sema, BaPa deputy secretary general, stressed that next year’s elections must be credible and democratic to sustain the gains of the peace process, disclosing that during the forum, all parties have agreed to ensure a peaceful, transparent and accountable elections in the BARMM.

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“It may be difficult to remove the stigma of violent [elections] and electoral irregularities in the BARMM in the past, but at least we start now. This gathering is the beginning that we can all work together,” Sema said.Al-Ittihad legal officer and spokesperson Badrodin Mangindra has recommended that all parties sign a covenant to formalize their commitments to a peaceful elections.

“This is history in the making. We must show to the whole world [that] BARMM is capable of holding clean and credible elections,” said Mahardika spokesperson Nur-Ainee Tan Lim, currently BARMM’s deputy minister for social welfare.

Parliament Member Rasol Mitmug Jr., BPP secretary general, said his party has also committed to undertake “positive campaigning, and we shall avoid negative and dirty politics.” According to WFD officials, they would soon be working on a covenant signing among the regional parties. INQ