Elections for the Bangsamoro Parliament were held on September 14, 2026, in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) of the Philippines. All 80 members of parliament (MPs) were elected, comprising 40 party representatives, 32 district representatives, and eight sectoral representatives, including two seats reserved for Non-Moro Indigenous Peoples (NMIP) were filled through a separate traditional selection process. The election was held in accordance with the Bangsamoro Organic Law, which serves as the charter of the autonomous region. It was the first regular election for the Bangsamoro Parliament, succeeding the interim Bangsamoro Transition Authority Parliament.
Originally scheduled for May 2022, the election was postponed four times. It was first postponed to May 2025 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the absence of an electoral code. It was moved again to October 2025 after the Supreme Court ruled that Sulu was not part of Bangsamoro, leaving seven seats unallocated. The election was moved for a third time to no later than March 31, 2026, after the Supreme Court declared two districting laws unconstitutional. It was postponed for the final time to September 14, 2026, after President Bongbong Marcos signed Republic Act No. 12317 on March 25, 2026, officially resetting the election date.
The elections resulted in a hung parliament, as no party or coalition was able to secure the 41 seats needed for a majority. The Bangsamoro Federalist Party (BFP), the party of incumbent Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua, holds a one-seat plurality, having won 31 seats, followed by the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) with 30. The Bangsamoro Grand Coalition (BGC), a coalition of four parties, won 15 seats, while the Raayat Democratic Party and Progresibong Bangsamoro Party each won a single seat.
Background Interim parliament When Bangsamoro was formed in 2019, the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) served as an interim government of the autonomous region, and also acted as its interim parliament. The interim government is not officially divided by political party affiliation but instead into two groups according to the nominating entity; the majority are nominees of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), while the rest are nominees of the Philippine national government.
Under the law which postponed the elections to 2025, the President of the Philippines was allowed to appoint a new set of members for the interim parliament whose terms would run until June 30, 2025.
Current Bangsamoro Transition Authority Parliament composition Political group SeatsMoro Islamic Liberation Front nomineesNational Government nomineesVacant
Initial postponement Originally scheduled to be held on May 9, 2022, the Bangsamoro Parliament election was postponed. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the region was cited as justification, along with the resulting non-passage of a Bangsamoro Electoral Code. The electoral code would be the regional legislation that would define the parliamentary districts for the purpose of the regional election. The electoral code would be legislated using data from the 2020 census which was likewise affected by the pandemic. In order for the election to be postponed, the Bangsamoro Organic Law had to be amended.
The Bangsamoro interim government and some advocacy groups in Mindanao campaigned for the postponement of the polls. Interim Chief Minister Murad Ebrahim reasoned that three years was not enough to restructure the region's government, and that the COVID-19 pandemic and delays in the release of the region's budget delayed the transition process. The postponement also received opposition. The Kusug Tausug party in the House of Representatives believed that postponing the elections was tantamount to justifying the interim Bangsamoro government's performance, which it found inadequate. Sulu Governor Abdusakur Mahail Tan also opposed the extension since he wanted elected officials to lead the region by 2022.
In the Congress, there was debate about whether it would be necessary to hold a plebiscite for the potential postponement of the Bangsamoro election. The National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections, amid talks on the possible postponement of the election, wanted the polls to be "desynchronized" or held on a different date from the national elections since a new electoral system would be used for the regional elections.
On September 6, 2021, the Senate approved Senate Bill No. 2214, postponing the election to 2025. A counterpart bill in the House of Representatives was approved on September 15. As the two bills were different, they had to be reconciled in a conference committee before being submitted for the president's signature to become law, and to actually postpone the election. While both bills gave the president of the Philippines the power to appoint parliament members for the 2019–2022 term, the House bill gave the incumbent president Rodrigo Duterte that power, while the Senate bill gave it to the winner of the 2022 presidential election. In late September, both chambers ratified the conference committee's version of the bill, giving the winning president in the 2022 election the power to appoint the members of the next transitional parliament.
On October 28, 2021, President Duterte signed into law the bill postponing the elections to 2025. However Duterte's successor was given the ability to change the parliament's entire composition once he or she assumed office.
Second interim parliament Duterte's successor President Bongbong Marcos appointed new members for the interim parliament. Forty-nine were reappointed while 31 were new members. The composition of 41 MILF nominees and 39 government nominees was still retained.
Exclusion of Sulu from Bangsamoro and second postponement In September 2024, Sulu province was excluded from Bangsamoro by a Supreme Court ruling, consequentially excluding it from the 2025 election. The ruling stated that its inclusion in the BARMM was unconstitutional as a majority of its residents voted against joining the region in the 2019 Bangsamoro autonomy plebiscite. The ruling led to uncertainty regarding the fate of seven seats allotted to Sulu in the Bangsamoro Parliament.
On October 22, 2024, the BTA adopted a resolution requesting the national Congress to move the election to 2028 on account of Sulu's exclusion from the BARMM. On November 4, 2024, Senate President Chiz Escudero filed Senate bill 2862, which called for the election to be postponed to May 11, 2026, in order for the BARMM "to reconfigure its jurisdictions as well as reallocate" its parliamentary seats following the exclusion of Sulu. A separate bill was also filed by Speaker Martin Romualdez and Lanao del Sur representative Zia Alonto Adiong in the House of Representatives to postpone the election until 2026.
A group of 35 civil society organizations in Mindanao opposed the postponement of the election and were also critical on the progress of decommissioning of the MILF as an armed rebel group. Maguindanao del Sur governor Mariam Mangudadatu said that there had been fatal skirmishes involving the MILF since 2022. The governor questioned MILF's legitimacy since their leadership in the transition government would be extended if the election was postponed. She also brought up a pledge by president Bongbong Marcos that the election would be held as planned in 2025.
The Bangsamoro regional government expressed openness to the postponement, stating that it was deferring to the "sound discretion" of the national Congress. Concerns were largely on the disenfranchisement of voters in Sulu, especially in the event the Supreme Court reversed its decision. Mohagher Iqbal of the MILF and also a parliament member was surprised by the initiative of the national congress. He believed that it would be advantageous to the United Bangsamoro Justice Party, the MILF's party, if the election was held as planned in 2025. On November 21, Basilan governor Hadjiman Hataman Salliman, Maguindanao del Norte Governor Abdulraof Macacua, and Tawi-Tawi Governor Yshmael Sali issued a joint statement supporting the postponement, citing the need to address the distribution of parliamentary seats following the exclusion of Sulu.
On February 16, 2025, COMELEC announced the suspension of ballot-printing for the election after a bicameral conference committee in Congress approved the postponement of the vote. On February 19, President Bongbong Marcos signed into law Republic Act No. 12123, officially moving the date of the election to October 13, 2025.
The COMELEC gave the Bangsamoro Parliament the ability to reallocate the seven parliamentary districts originally allocated for Sulu. The Parliament missed two deadlines; on May 30 and on June 15, 2025. COMELEC announced that only 73 out of 80 parliamentary seats would be filled.
Third postponement On September 15, 2025, the Supreme Court, acting on an petition filed by Bangsamoro MP Lanang Ali Jr., League of Bangsamoro Organizations Secretary General Samsodin Amella, and peace advocate Datuan Magon Jr., issued a temporary restraining order against the Bangsomoro Autonomy Act (BAA) No. 77, or the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Redistricting Act of 2025, which sought to implement the reallocation of parliamentary districts, prompting the COMELEC to suspend its preparations for the election on September 17. On September 25, COMELEC Chair George Garcia said it was "legally and factually impossible" to hold the election as scheduled, citing the TRO by the Supreme Court.
On October 1, 2025, the Supreme Court declared the BAA 77 as well as the preceding BAA 58 unconstitutional, leaving Bangsamoro without a law defining its parliamentary districts and effectively postponing the elections again. The high court nevertheless directed the COMELEC to proceed with preparations and conduct of the election not later than March 31, 2026. The court ordered the parliament to determine the distribution of district parliamentary seats by October 30, 2025.
After the Bangsamoro Parliament failed to comply with the first COMELEC deadline, the election body warned that the parliament should pass a new districting law by November 30, 2025. As per the interpretation of the COMELEC, the parliament should pass the districting law by this date to comply the Voters' Registration Act which states that no law modifying electoral districts shall be passed 120 days before the elections – one of the cited reasons why the Supreme Court declared BAA 77 as unconstitutional.
On November 25, 2025, the COMELEC set the election date for March 30, 2026.
The Bangsamoro Parliament still failed to pass a districting law after it held its last regular session for the year on December 18, 2025. On December 22, the COMELEC has already urged Congress to pass a law to set the elections for November 2026.
Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua called for a special session to be held from December 29 to 31, 2025 in a bid to pass a districting law. The special session took place as Mohammad Yacob decided against convening the parliament as its members were expected to be unavailable due to the Christmas holiday.
A special session began on January 12, 2026, with Parliament Bill 415 being passed minutes after midnight of the following day. However the Institute for Autonomy and Governance and COMELEC raised concerns that the new districting law had already missed the deadline to be compliant with the 120-days requirement set by the Voters' Registration Act.
Fourth postponement