The 2026 Bangsamoro election
On Sep 14, 2026 the Bangsamoro elected its own Parliament for the first time — 80 members, filled three different ways, after seven years of transition and three postponed dates. No party won the 41 seats a government needs. This page is how those seats are filled and who was on the ballot; the count itself is on the result page.
The count · Sep 14, 2026
No party reached the 41 seats a Chief Minister needs. BFP finished first on 31 seats and UBJP second on 30, leaving the chamber to be settled by coalition rather than by the count.
A voter marks two things and a third is reserved. Together they fill one 80-seat chamber, and any government has to hold 41 of those seats to form.
80
seats in Parliament
40
50% of the chamber
Party-representative seats
32
40% of the chamber
Single-member district seats
8
10% of the chamber
Sectoral and reserved seats
40
of 80 seats
You mark one party
Every voter in the region sees the same 13 entries. The vote is for the party rather than a person: each one takes a share of these seats in proportion to its share of the vote, then fills them from its own nominee list.
Meet the 13 parties →32
of 80 seats
You mark one candidate
One name wins the seat for the place you are registered in. The seats are not spread evenly: Lanao del Sur returns nine of them, and Sulu returns none at all after the Supreme Court excluded it from the region for election purposes.
Not for contention after Sulu's exclusion from BARMM.
32 district seats in all
8
of 80 seats
Filled from sector lists
These are held for communities that a region-wide count would otherwise leave out. The seats are fixed in the Organic Law, and the nominees for them appear on the regional certified list.
One ballot, two marks
Sep 14, 2026
01
Mark one — region-wide
+ 7 more on the regional ballot
The vote is for the party, not a person. The 13 entries share the party-representative seats in proportion to the vote, and each party fills the seats it wins from its own nominee list.
02
Mark one — your district only
One name wins the seat for the place you are registered in. 32 districts return a member this way, and the names printed on this half of the paper change from district to district.
Not on the ballot · The remaining 8 seats are reserved for named sectors — Non-Moro Indigenous Peoples, settler communities, women, youth, traditional leaders, and the ulama. Their nominees are on the regional certified list rather than in an oval you mark.
Nobody votes for a chief minister on the ballot. The 80 members elected on all three tracks do that themselves, on the first day of session — and on Oct 30, 2026 they will be doing it without a party holding a majority.
A member needs 41 of the 80 votes — a majority of all members, not of those present. If no one reaches it, Parliament holds a runoff between the top two. That is why the party vote and the district vote end up being the same question: which bloc can get to 41.
The count answered it with a chamber where nobody can. The largest bloc holds 31, 10 short, which puts the office in the hands of whoever agrees with whom — the seats, bloc by bloc.
Source: RA 11054, Art. VII, Secs. 30–35
The law that created the Parliament was signed in 2018. Everything between then and September 2026 is the story of a date being moved — by a pandemic, by Congress, and by the Supreme Court — and then of the date arriving.
Jul 26, 2018
Legal Foundation
Republic Act No. 11054 created the legal framework for BARMM and the parliamentary system.
Dec 2018
Plebiscite
Plebiscite processes approved BARMM creation, with Sulu later central to jurisdictional litigation because most of its residents voted against inclusion.
2019
Transition
The BTA served as interim government and interim parliament before the first regular parliamentary election.
Oct 28, 2021
Postponement
The first regular parliamentary election, originally expected in 2022, was postponed to 2025 amid pandemic and electoral-code transition issues.
2023
Electoral Code
BARMM adopted an electoral framework for its parliamentary election process; later Comelec resolutions implemented filing and list rules.
Aug 2024
Court Decision
The Supreme Court ruling excluding Sulu created uncertainty over the seven parliamentary seats earlier allocated to Sulu.
Feb 19, 2025
Postponement
Republic Act No. 12123 moved the election date to October 13, 2025 after Sulu-related seat allocation problems.
Mar 20, 2025
Appointment
Macacua (appointed by President Marcos on March 3, 2025) took office as BARMM interim Chief Minister, replacing Murad Ebrahim; the MILF objected that the appointments bypassed its recommendations.
Sep 15, 2025
Court Ruling
The Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order against the Bangsamoro parliamentary redistricting law (BAA 77), disrupting preparations for the then-scheduled October 2025 polls.
Oct 1, 2025
Court Decision
The Supreme Court declared Bangsamoro districting laws unconstitutional, forcing another reset of election preparations and district allocation work.
Jan 13, 2026
Legislation
The Bangsamoro Parliament approved a new districting law (Parliament Bill 415, enacted as Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 86) establishing the 32 single-member districts used in the 2026 election, replacing the voided BAA 77 and BAA 58.
Jan 28, 2026
Deferment
COMELEC deferred the March 2026 schedule due to the 120-day rule and districting-law timing concerns.
Mar 25, 2026
Postponement Law
Republic Act No. 12317 reset the first regular Bangsamoro Parliament election to September 14, 2026.
Apr 21, 2026
Comelec Resolution
COMELEC issued rules for COC filing, nominee lists, consolidation, posting, corrections and related processes for the September 14, 2026 BARMM Parliamentary Elections.
May 5, 2026 to May 7, 2026
Filing Period
Filing of district COCs and party/coalition nominee lists occurred during May 5-7, 2026.
May 13, 2026
Candidate List
COMELEC published/generated the regional Certified List of Candidates containing the 13 regional political parties and regional sectoral candidates.
Jul 9, 2026
Comelec Resolution
COMELEC named UBJP the dominant majority party and BFP the dominant minority party for the 2026 BARMM parliamentary elections, granting associated election-day privileges.
Jul 16, 2026
Election Period
Start of the election period under the current timetable.
Jul 30, 2026 to Sep 12, 2026
Campaign Period
Campaign period under the current timetable runs July 30 to September 12, 2026.
Aug 26, 2026
Sectoral Selection
The Regional Inter-Tribal Convention in Cotabato City selected the two reserved Non-Moro Indigenous Peoples representatives by traditional process rather than by ballot.
Sep 14, 2026
Election Day
Scheduled date of the first regular BARMM Parliamentary Elections.
Sep 15, 2026
Proclamation
District boards of canvassers proclaimed the winners in every parliamentary district the day after the vote.
Sep 16, 2026
Proclamation
After midnight, the COMELEC Regional Board of Canvassers proclaimed all 80 members. No party reached the 41 seats a Chief Minister needs.
Oct 30, 2026
First Session
The 80 members begin their term and elect a Chief Minister from among themselves.
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