🔗 Share this article War-torn Myanmar Votes in Broadly Condemned 'Sham' Election. The country's junta is holding a staggered election over the coming weeks. Myanmar is going to the polls in a electoral process broadly rejected as a sham, with major political parties banned, numerous figures imprisoned and a significant portion of the country unlikely to vote because of an ongoing civil war. A Phased Ballot Amid Conflict The ruling junta is conducting a staggered election nearly half a decade after it took control in a takeover, which ignited massive protests and escalated into a devastating conflict. Observers say the junta, with China's support, is attempting to validate and consolidate its power as it seeks a way out of the devastating stalemate. "The environment does not allow for the practice of the rights of free speech, assembly or peaceful assembly," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk said. Over two hundred people have been charged for disrupting or opposing the polls under a recently enacted legislation which carries severe punishments, including the possibility of execution. Director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer Ohn Daing were among the well-known individuals found guilty under the law, which was passed in July. They were each given a prison sentence of seven years after criticising a film promoting 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 made warnings urging people to boycott the polls. The military has been engaged on multiple battlefields, against both armed resistance groups who reject the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own militias. 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 phases over the next month in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the rest deemed too unstable. Outcomes are expected around the end of January. There is unlikely to be any voting in as much as one half of the country. Even in the townships that are voting, some districts will hold elections, making it challenging to predict a likely turnout. Six 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 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 senior figures have been jailed under charges broadly viewed as politically motivated, 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," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman 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 pretence, while regional bloc Asean has urged negotiations to precede any election. The Burmese junta has dismissed criticism of the polls, insisting that it aims to "restore a democracy with multiple parties". "This vote is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of this country. It is not being held for the outside world," a military representative told a briefing last week. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are turning their back on "progress toward democracy".
The country's junta is holding a staggered election over the coming weeks. Myanmar is going to the polls in a electoral process broadly rejected as a sham, with major political parties banned, numerous figures imprisoned and a significant portion of the country unlikely to vote because of an ongoing civil war. A Phased Ballot Amid Conflict The ruling junta is conducting a staggered election nearly half a decade after it took control in a takeover, which ignited massive protests and escalated into a devastating conflict. Observers say the junta, with China's support, is attempting to validate and consolidate its power as it seeks a way out of the devastating stalemate. "The environment does not allow for the practice of the rights of free speech, assembly or peaceful assembly," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk said. Over two hundred people have been charged for disrupting or opposing the polls under a recently enacted legislation which carries severe punishments, including the possibility of execution. Director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer Ohn Daing were among the well-known individuals found guilty under the law, which was passed in July. They were each given a prison sentence of seven years after criticising a film promoting 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 made warnings urging people to boycott the polls. The military has been engaged on multiple battlefields, against both armed resistance groups who reject the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own militias. 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 phases over the next month in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the rest deemed too unstable. Outcomes are expected around the end of January. There is unlikely to be any voting in as much as one half of the country. Even in the townships that are voting, some districts will hold elections, making it challenging to predict a likely turnout. Six 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 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 senior figures have been jailed under charges broadly viewed as politically motivated, 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," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman 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 pretence, while regional bloc Asean has urged negotiations to precede any election. The Burmese junta has dismissed criticism of the polls, insisting that it aims to "restore a democracy with multiple parties". "This vote is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of this country. It is not being held for the outside world," a military representative told a briefing last week. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are turning their back on "progress toward democracy".