🔗 Share this article Conflict-ravaged Burma Goes to the Polls in Broadly Condemned Political Theater. Myanmar's junta is conducting a staggered vote over the coming weeks. Myanmar is going to the polls in a electoral process widely dismissed as a farce, with key opposition groups dissolved, many of their leaders jailed and a significant portion of the country unable to participate because of an ongoing internal conflict. A Staggered Vote Amid Conflict The ruling junta is holding a staggered election nearly five years after it took control in a coup, which ignited widespread opposition and spiralled into a devastating conflict. Analysts note the junta, with backing from Beijing, is seeking to legitimise and entrench its power as it seeks a way out of the costly stalemate. "There are no conditions for the practice of the rights of free speech, assembly or peaceful assembly," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stated. Over two hundred people have been charged for interfering with or criticising the polls under a new law which carries severe punishments, including the possibility of execution. Film director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and comedian Ohn Daing were among the well-known individuals found guilty under the law, which was passed in July. They were each given a seven-year jail term after criticising a promotional video endorsing the elections. Logistical Nightmare and Pressure Civilians are "facing pressure from all sides," Mr Türk noted in a statement, pointing out that resistance forces have issued their own threats urging people to shun the polls. The military has been engaged on multiple battlefields, against both pro-democracy fighters who oppose the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own militias. It ceded territory of large parts of the country in a string of defeats, but regained territory this year following relentless airstrikes made possible through support from China and Russia. All of this and the fact that large parts of the country are still under opposition control presents a huge logistical challenge for holding an election. A Restricted Poll The ballot is set to take place in three phases over the next month in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's 330 townships, with the rest deemed too unstable. 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, not all constituencies will hold elections, making it challenging to forecast a possible turnout. A handful of parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, are fielding candidates nationwide, while dozens more parties and independent candidates will compete only at the local levels. Approximately forty groups, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which scored decisive wins in 2015 and 2020, have been dissolved. Suu Kyi and many of the party's senior figures have been imprisoned under charges widely condemned as politically motivated, while the rest are in exile. Criticism and Rejection "By splitting the vote into phases, the authorities can adjust tactics if the outcomes in the first phase do not go their way," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts. Western governments, including the UK and the EU legislature, have dismissed the vote as a sham, while regional bloc Asean has urged political dialogue to come before any election. The Myanmar regime has dismissed condemnation of the polls, maintaining that it aims to "restore a multi-party democratic system". "This vote is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of Myanmar. It is not being held for the outside world," a military representative stated at a news conference last week. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who refuse to vote are rejecting "the path to democracy".
Myanmar's junta is conducting a staggered vote over the coming weeks. Myanmar is going to the polls in a electoral process widely dismissed as a farce, with key opposition groups dissolved, many of their leaders jailed and a significant portion of the country unable to participate because of an ongoing internal conflict. A Staggered Vote Amid Conflict The ruling junta is holding a staggered election nearly five years after it took control in a coup, which ignited widespread opposition and spiralled into a devastating conflict. Analysts note the junta, with backing from Beijing, is seeking to legitimise and entrench its power as it seeks a way out of the costly stalemate. "There are no conditions for the practice of the rights of free speech, assembly or peaceful assembly," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stated. Over two hundred people have been charged for interfering with or criticising the polls under a new law which carries severe punishments, including the possibility of execution. Film director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and comedian Ohn Daing were among the well-known individuals found guilty under the law, which was passed in July. They were each given a seven-year jail term after criticising a promotional video endorsing the elections. Logistical Nightmare and Pressure Civilians are "facing pressure from all sides," Mr Türk noted in a statement, pointing out that resistance forces have issued their own threats urging people to shun the polls. The military has been engaged on multiple battlefields, against both pro-democracy fighters who oppose the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own militias. It ceded territory of large parts of the country in a string of defeats, but regained territory this year following relentless airstrikes made possible through support from China and Russia. All of this and the fact that large parts of the country are still under opposition control presents a huge logistical challenge for holding an election. A Restricted Poll The ballot is set to take place in three phases over the next month in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's 330 townships, with the rest deemed too unstable. 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, not all constituencies will hold elections, making it challenging to forecast a possible turnout. A handful of parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, are fielding candidates nationwide, while dozens more parties and independent candidates will compete only at the local levels. Approximately forty groups, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which scored decisive wins in 2015 and 2020, have been dissolved. Suu Kyi and many of the party's senior figures have been imprisoned under charges widely condemned as politically motivated, while the rest are in exile. Criticism and Rejection "By splitting the vote into phases, the authorities can adjust tactics if the outcomes in the first phase do not go their way," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts. Western governments, including the UK and the EU legislature, have dismissed the vote as a sham, while regional bloc Asean has urged political dialogue to come before any election. The Myanmar regime has dismissed condemnation of the polls, maintaining that it aims to "restore a multi-party democratic system". "This vote is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of Myanmar. It is not being held for the outside world," a military representative stated at a news conference last week. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who refuse to vote are rejecting "the path to democracy".