Shafaqna English– The first democratic elections in the Muslim-majority Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Mindanao in southern Philippines are expected to be held in 2025.
Huseyin Oruc, a Turkish representative in the Bangsamoro Third-Party Monitoring Team (TPMT) told Anadolu that the regional elections in 2025 will test the long-lasting peace process in the southern Philippines.
Noting that the peace process with two backbones – normalisation and political pillars – continues “despite setbacks and problems”, Oruc said that the political part is going as planned, but there are delays and problems in the normalisation part.
“The process continues in all dynamics. If elections are held in a safe environment, the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) can obtain a majority or close to a majority in these elections and continue the government.
“If the people say: ‘We are happy with peace, we are happy with those who have governed Moro since 2019,’ and give the majority to the (MILF) front party in the elections, much faster steps can be taken in other areas, including normalisation,” he said.
Noting that the police force of the region should be brought to the mechanism that works under the command of the Philippine State, he argued that a total of 7,000 people in the region, including the MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), should be taken into the new police force and connected to the regional prime minister.