🔗 Share this article Conflict-ravaged Burma Votes in Broadly Condemned 'Sham' Election. The country's military is holding a staggered vote over the coming weeks. Myanmar is going to the polls in a electoral process broadly rejected as a sham, with key opposition groups dissolved, many of their leaders jailed and as much as half of the country unlikely to vote because of an ongoing internal conflict. A Phased Ballot Amid War The ruling junta is holding a phased ballot nearly half a decade after it seized power in a coup, which ignited massive protests and escalated into a devastating conflict. Observers say the military regime, with backing from Beijing, is attempting to validate and consolidate its power as it looks for a way out of the devastating deadlock. "The environment does not allow for the practice of the rights of free speech, assembly or peaceful protest," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk stated. More than 200 people have been charged for disrupting or opposing the election under a recently enacted legislation which imposes harsh penalties, including the possibility of execution. Film director Mike Tee, performer 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 given a seven-year jail term after criticising a promotional video endorsing the elections. Immense Challenges and Coercion Civilians are "facing pressure from all sides," Mr Türk said in a comment, pointing out that resistance forces have made warnings asking people to shun the polls. The military has been fighting on multiple battlefields, against both armed resistance groups who reject the coup, as well as ethnic armies which have their own militias. It ceded territory of vast areas of the country in a series of major setbacks, but regained territory this year after sustained aerial bombardment enabled by support from China and Russia. All of this and the fact that large parts of the country are still under rebel administration presents a huge logistical challenge for conducting an election. A Restricted Poll The ballot is set to take place in three phases over the coming weeks in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the rest 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 go to the polls, making it difficult to predict 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 contest 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 key leaders have been jailed under charges widely condemned as fabricated, while others are in hiding abroad. Criticism and Rejection "Through dividing the vote into phases, the authorities can adjust tactics if the outcomes in the first phase do not go their way," noted Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts. Western governments, including the United Kingdom and the EU legislature, have dismissed the vote as a sham, while neighbouring group Asean has called for political dialogue to precede any election. The Myanmar regime has rejected condemnation of the polls, insisting that it aims to "return [the country] to a multi-party democratic system". "The election is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of this country. It is not intended for the international community," a junta spokesman told a news conference last week. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are rejecting "progress toward democracy".
The country's military is holding a staggered vote over the coming weeks. Myanmar is going to the polls in a electoral process broadly rejected as a sham, with key opposition groups dissolved, many of their leaders jailed and as much as half of the country unlikely to vote because of an ongoing internal conflict. A Phased Ballot Amid War The ruling junta is holding a phased ballot nearly half a decade after it seized power in a coup, which ignited massive protests and escalated into a devastating conflict. Observers say the military regime, with backing from Beijing, is attempting to validate and consolidate its power as it looks for a way out of the devastating deadlock. "The environment does not allow for the practice of the rights of free speech, assembly or peaceful protest," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk stated. More than 200 people have been charged for disrupting or opposing the election under a recently enacted legislation which imposes harsh penalties, including the possibility of execution. Film director Mike Tee, performer 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 given a seven-year jail term after criticising a promotional video endorsing the elections. Immense Challenges and Coercion Civilians are "facing pressure from all sides," Mr Türk said in a comment, pointing out that resistance forces have made warnings asking people to shun the polls. The military has been fighting on multiple battlefields, against both armed resistance groups who reject the coup, as well as ethnic armies which have their own militias. It ceded territory of vast areas of the country in a series of major setbacks, but regained territory this year after sustained aerial bombardment enabled by support from China and Russia. All of this and the fact that large parts of the country are still under rebel administration presents a huge logistical challenge for conducting an election. A Restricted Poll The ballot is set to take place in three phases over the coming weeks in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the rest 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 go to the polls, making it difficult to predict 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 contest 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 key leaders have been jailed under charges widely condemned as fabricated, while others are in hiding abroad. Criticism and Rejection "Through dividing the vote into phases, the authorities can adjust tactics if the outcomes in the first phase do not go their way," noted Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts. Western governments, including the United Kingdom and the EU legislature, have dismissed the vote as a sham, while neighbouring group Asean has called for political dialogue to precede any election. The Myanmar regime has rejected condemnation of the polls, insisting that it aims to "return [the country] to a multi-party democratic system". "The election is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of this country. It is not intended for the international community," a junta spokesman told a news conference last week. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are rejecting "progress toward democracy".