A candidate in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) elections faces life imprisonment and perpetual disqualification from public office over his alleged involvement in the pre-shading of ballots in Basilan, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Tuesday.

Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said the poll body will file electoral sabotage charges against the candidate, whom investigators believe stood to benefit from the ballot irregularity.

“We are focusing closely on the candidate involved because someone clearly stood to benefit from what happened,” Laudiangco said.

The Comelec found that ballots in 36 of Maluso’s 68 polling precincts had been compromised. The affected precincts had 16,563 registered voters, exceeding the 10,000-ballot threshold for electoral sabotage.

“Electoral sabotage carries a penalty of life imprisonment,” Laudiangco said, adding that the candidate, who was not identified, will also be disqualified.

The 36 precincts held their voting on Tuesday after the Comelec reprinted the ballots.

Peaceful?

Violence disrupted the voting in Cotabato City, where several people were reportedly killed and others were wounded in shooting incidents.

Other incidents included the discovery of firearms near a polling center, attacks on vehicles belonging to a rival party, shootings, explosions, and the recovery of an improvised explosive device.

The Comelec placed Cotabato City and Maluso under its direct control.

BARMM Interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua condemned the violence.

“We strongly condemn all acts of violence, intimidation, and the use of firearms that threaten the safety of our people and the right of every Bangsamoro to vote freely and peacefully,” Macacua said.

Despite the incidents, the military said the voting was orderly in most areas.

Lt. Col. Ronald Suscano, spokesperson of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said 92.8 percent of monitored precincts experienced no major problems.

“There were areas where tensions ran high, but generally, the elections were peaceful and successful,” Suscano said.

80% turnout

PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said police secured the delivery of election materials to 1,186 voting centers across the BARMM. Voting proceeded at 1,173 centers, or 98.9 percent, while the remaining 13 centers were in Basilan.

Nartatez said the police adjusted deployments in response to reported incidents and ordered investigations and pursuit operations.

“While there were pockets of security challenges, the BARMM elections were peaceful and orderly in almost all parts of the region,” he said.

The Comelec reported voter turnout of about 80 percent, with 1,850,216 of the region’s 2,393,000 registered voters casting ballots on Monday. The figure excluded the 16,563 voters in the affected Maluso precincts.

Comelec chairman George Garcia said the complete results must be received before regional party-list winners can be proclaimed. District winners in unaffected areas may be proclaimed earlier.

The 80-seat parliament will consist of 40 partylist representatives, 32 district representatives, and eight sectoral representatives.