Voting is underway in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in the southern Philippines in the first parliamentary elections since the region was established in 2019.
Monday’s historic vote is seen as a crucial step towards self-governance after decades of rebellion and violence in the Muslim-majority region, where more than 2.3 million people are eligible to vote.
Election officials said they were targeting a turnout of at least 80 percent after polling was postponed for several years.
Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Lo, reporting from Marawi, said “voters are saying that this [election] has been a long time coming, and they just want to elect leaders who can bring lasting peace.”
However, deadly violence marred the elections one day before the polls opened.
The chairman of the Commission on Elections, George Garcia, reported on Monday that Cotabato City had been put under the commission’s control after a shooting late on Sunday near a polling station at a school killed three people and injured 15.
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