MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Muslims in the southern Philippines have overwhelmingly approved in a referendum the creation of a new autonomous region.

The Commission on Election says the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is deemed ratified following a referendum on Monday. It says 1.5 million people voted in favor.

Bangsamoro replaces an existing poverty-wracked autonomous region with a larger, better-funded and more powerful entity.

It is the result of a tumultuous peace effort by the government in Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the main rebel group, to seal a deal that was signed in 2014 but languished in the Philippine Congress until it was finally approved last year. Bloodshed including the siege of Marawi city by Islamic State-linked militants and other bombings and attacks in the south threatened to derail it.