Bangsamoro holds first parliamentary vote after fatal Cotabato shooting

Midnight violence outside Cotabato polling station

Polling stations opened on Monday across the autonomous region of Bangsamoro in the southern Philippines, following a fatal confrontation during the night. In the regional capital of Cotabato, three people were killed and 15 others were wounded when gunfire broke out outside a school serving as a voting centre. The incident occurred shortly before midnight on Sunday as members of rival political factions gathered ahead of the opening of the polls.

Cotabato police chief Jibin Bongcayao explained that the confrontation began when opposing groups argued over who would stand at the front of the queue to cast the first ballots.

Initially, it was a dispute between two groups for places in the queue.

According to Bongcayao, the initial quarrel led to pushing and shoving, which quickly degenerated into a physical fight before shots were fired into the crowded area outside the school building. The police chief confirmed that the armed men involved in the shooting belonged to rival factions originating from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest rebel organisation in the Philippines.

Context of the parliamentary vote

Monday marks the first time that the autonomous, Muslim-majority region is holding an election to choose its local parliament. More than two million registered voters across the region are called to the polls to decide 80 parliamentary seats, which are being contested by 13 distinct political formations.

The election represents the culmination of an intermittent peace process that began in the late 1990s between the national government and separatist groups. The MILF fought for decades to secure regional self-determination within the predominantly Catholic archipelago. That separatist conflict caused an estimated 150,000 deaths before reaching the political settlements that established the Bangsamoro autonomous region.

Security deployment and preceding attacks

Because the region has long been marked by political rivalries and family vendettas, party leaders acknowledged before the vote that holding an election without serious disruption would itself be considered a success. In response to the persistent risk of unrest, authorities deployed more than 20,000 law enforcement officers and security personnel across the autonomous territory, situated on the Muslim-majority parts of Mindanao island.

Tensions had already flared ahead of the vote. In August, an armed convoy carrying the head of the interim local government, an official appointed by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, was ambushed.

Further casualties on election day

Security forces faced additional violence just as polling got underway on Monday morning. In a separate incident from the Cotabato shooting, an explosion occurred in the vicinity of another polling station.

One man was transported to a local hospital following the blast and died from his injuries early Monday. Police authorities opened an active investigation into the explosion, maintaining reinforced security checkpoints and patrols around polling sites across Mindanao as voting continued.