Voting starts in Philippines' south after three killed in election violence

By Karen Lema

MANILA, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Voting began ‌on Monday in ​the Philippines' ​Muslim-majority south under heightened security after three people were killed and 15 wounded in violence on the eve of the historic election.

The vote is seen as a crucial test of efforts seeking to bring lasting ‌peace and development to a region once torn by separatist conflict and extremism which peaked ⁠in the 2017 siege of Marawi City by Islamic State-linked militants.

The Commission on Elections placed Cotabato City under its control after the violence on Sunday, when an argument ‌at a polling station erupted in ‌gunfire, according to local reports.

Election Commission Chairperson George Erwin Garcia condemned the act of violence, but said elections for party-list representatives, district representatives, and sectoral seats across the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) have been generally ​peaceful so far despite logistical challenges, including reprinting ballots to replace pre-shaded ones that had been intercepted.

Voting precincts close at 7 p.m. (1100 GMT), but Garcia said some may stay open until 9 p.m. due to delayed ⁠opening.

Nearly 2.4 million voters are registered for the vote, which international partners and peace monitors view as a key test of whether the regional autonomy granted ​under a 2014 peace deal between Manila and Muslim separatists can be sustained through elected institutions.

The grant of autonomy was intended to halt a conflict that killed more than 120,000 people, ​displaced about 2 million, and helped extremist groups gain a foothold ‌in the region.

"The election marks a milestone in the continuing journey of BARMM towards lasting peace, democratic governance and meaningful self-determination," President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in a video message ⁠urging voters to take part in what he also described as a "defining moment" for the region and the country.

The election completes a transition set in motion by the agreement between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's largest Muslim separatist group, and a ⁠subsequent law that granted greater political and economic powers to the Muslim-majority south.

The autonomous region spans parts of Mindanao, the Philippines' second-largest island, and ​a chain of dozens of small islands to the west once associated with piracy and banditry.

BARMM is the country's only region governed under a parliamentary system. Among those competing for power in the election are parties led by former MILF rebels, rival factions that ‌emerged from the movement after the peace deal, and traditional political clans.

Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, chairman of the MILF and also a candidate for parliament, said the election fulfilled a ‌long-held aspiration of the Bangsamoro people to choose their own leaders through the ballot box.

"Our people have long aspired to have elections, ⁠where the people themselves can choose their leaders," ‌Murad, who served as the region's ​interim chief minister until 2025, said after voting.

The election outcome is expected to be known as early as Tuesday.

(Reporting by Karen Lema; Additional reporting by Nestor Corrales; Editing by Lincoln Feast and ‌Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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