🔗 Share this article Conflict-ravaged Myanmar Goes to the Polls in Broadly Condemned 'Sham' Election. Myanmar's junta is holding a phased election over the next month. Myanmar is going to the polls in a electoral process broadly rejected as a sham, with major political parties dissolved, numerous figures jailed and a significant portion of the country unlikely to vote because of an ongoing civil war. A Phased Ballot Amid Conflict The military government is conducting a staggered election nearly five years after it seized power in a takeover, which ignited massive protests and spiralled into a devastating conflict. Observers say the military regime, with backing from Beijing, is seeking to legitimise and consolidate its power as it looks for a way out of the devastating deadlock. "There are no conditions for the practice of the freedoms of free speech, association or peaceful assembly," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said. Over two hundred people have been prosecuted for disrupting or criticising the polls under a recently enacted legislation which carries severe punishments, including the death penalty. Film director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer Ohn Daing were among the well-known individuals found guilty under the law, which was enacted in July. They were each handed a seven-year jail term after criticising a film endorsing the elections. Immense Challenges and Pressure Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk noted in a comment, adding that armed rebel groups have made warnings asking people to shun the polls. The military has been engaged on multiple battlefields, against both pro-democracy fighters who reject the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own forces. It ceded territory of vast areas of the country in a string of defeats, but regained territory this year after relentless airstrikes enabled by support from Beijing and Moscow. All of this and the fact that significant regions of the country are still under opposition control presents a massive logistical challenge for conducting an election. A Limited Vote Voting is set to take place in three rounds over the coming weeks in 274 of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the remainder deemed not secure enough. Outcomes are expected by late January. There is unlikely to be any voting in up to fifty percent of the country. Even in the townships that are voting, some districts will hold elections, making it difficult to forecast a likely turnout. A handful of parties, including the junta-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while another 51 parties and non-aligned contenders will compete only at the state or regional levels. Approximately forty groups, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which scored landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been dissolved. Suu Kyi and a number of the party's key leaders have been imprisoned under charges broadly viewed as politically motivated, while the rest are in exile. Criticism and Rejection "By splitting the vote into phases, the junta can adjust tactics if the outcomes in the first phase do not go their way," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a representative of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts. Nations in the West, including the United Kingdom and the European Parliament, have dismissed the vote as a sham, while regional bloc Asean has urged negotiations to come before any election. The Burmese junta has dismissed criticism of the polls, insisting that it aims to "restore a multi-party democratic system". "This vote is being held for our nation. It is being held for the citizens of Myanmar. It is not being held for the outside world," a military representative told a news conference last week. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are turning their back on "progress toward democracy".
Myanmar's junta is holding a phased election over the next month. Myanmar is going to the polls in a electoral process broadly rejected as a sham, with major political parties dissolved, numerous figures jailed and a significant portion of the country unlikely to vote because of an ongoing civil war. A Phased Ballot Amid Conflict The military government is conducting a staggered election nearly five years after it seized power in a takeover, which ignited massive protests and spiralled into a devastating conflict. Observers say the military regime, with backing from Beijing, is seeking to legitimise and consolidate its power as it looks for a way out of the devastating deadlock. "There are no conditions for the practice of the freedoms of free speech, association or peaceful assembly," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said. Over two hundred people have been prosecuted for disrupting or criticising the polls under a recently enacted legislation which carries severe punishments, including the death penalty. Film director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer Ohn Daing were among the well-known individuals found guilty under the law, which was enacted in July. They were each handed a seven-year jail term after criticising a film endorsing the elections. Immense Challenges and Pressure Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk noted in a comment, adding that armed rebel groups have made warnings asking people to shun the polls. The military has been engaged on multiple battlefields, against both pro-democracy fighters who reject the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own forces. It ceded territory of vast areas of the country in a string of defeats, but regained territory this year after relentless airstrikes enabled by support from Beijing and Moscow. All of this and the fact that significant regions of the country are still under opposition control presents a massive logistical challenge for conducting an election. A Limited Vote Voting is set to take place in three rounds over the coming weeks in 274 of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the remainder deemed not secure enough. Outcomes are expected by late January. There is unlikely to be any voting in up to fifty percent of the country. Even in the townships that are voting, some districts will hold elections, making it difficult to forecast a likely turnout. A handful of parties, including the junta-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while another 51 parties and non-aligned contenders will compete only at the state or regional levels. Approximately forty groups, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which scored landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been dissolved. Suu Kyi and a number of the party's key leaders have been imprisoned under charges broadly viewed as politically motivated, while the rest are in exile. Criticism and Rejection "By splitting the vote into phases, the junta can adjust tactics if the outcomes in the first phase do not go their way," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a representative of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts. Nations in the West, including the United Kingdom and the European Parliament, have dismissed the vote as a sham, while regional bloc Asean has urged negotiations to come before any election. The Burmese junta has dismissed criticism of the polls, insisting that it aims to "restore a multi-party democratic system". "This vote is being held for our nation. It is being held for the citizens of Myanmar. It is not being held for the outside world," a military representative told a news conference last week. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are turning their back on "progress toward democracy".