Bangsamoro: Nearly 77,000 applicants are seeking to become registered voters in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), as announced by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday.

According to Philippines News Agency, the commission has received a total of 76,942 voter registrants in the region from February 9 to March 16. Among the six provinces in BARMM, Lanao del Sur has the highest number of applicants with 20,447. Following closely are Maguindanao del Norte with 16,514 and Maguindanao del Sur with 11,966. Basilan has 10,865 applicants, while Tawi-Tawi and the Special Geographic Area have 9,326 and 7,824 applicants, respectively. The voter registration period, which began on February 9, is set to continue until March 31.

The poll body had earlier projected that approximately 100,000 BARMM residents would register as voters. In a separate update, Comelec has allotted three days for objections against the accreditation of Regional Parliamentary Political Parties (RPPPs) and Parliamentary Sectoral Organizations (PSOs) for participation in the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections. As stated in Comelec Resolution 11205, opposition filings for RPPPs and PSOs are permitted three days following March 20 and March 23, respectively.

The commission outlined that a "Verified Opposition or Petition to Deny Due Course" may be submitted within three days from the last day of the filing of the Verified Petition for Registration. RPPPs with a minimum of 5,000 registered BARMM voters may submit their applications to the Bangsamoro Registration and Accreditation Committee (BRAC) between March 17 and 20. Meanwhile, PSOs have been directed to file their applications at the BRAC from March 16 to 23, along with the names of their three nominees.