On Sept. 14, residents of the Bangsamoro in the southern Philippines will elect regional parliamentary representatives. In this Q&A, Crisis Group expert Georgi Engelbrecht explains the importance of this step in the peace process between the national government and ex-rebels in the region.

On Thursday, the court named retired chief justices Artemio Panganiban, Reynato Puno and Hilario G. Davide Jr., and retired associate justice Adolfo Azcuna as amici curiae, or friends of the court, to advise it on whether the 16-vote requirement should be changed in light of the nonparticipation of four senator-judges.

As BARMM enters its historic first parliamentary elections, thousands of police and military forces have been deployed across the region in order to ensure a “safe” election season. However, public safety may not be so easily achieved since, as Sandatahang Dahas data has shown, state agents themselves are often the perpetrators of violence–even against their own.