🔗 Share this article War-torn Myanmar Votes in Broadly Condemned 'Sham' Election. Myanmar's junta is conducting a phased election over the next month. Myanmar is going to the polls in a vote widely dismissed 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 continuing internal conflict. A Phased Ballot Amid War The ruling junta is holding a staggered election nearly half a decade after it seized power in a coup, which sparked massive protests and spiralled into a devastating conflict. Observers say the military regime, with China's support, is attempting to validate and consolidate its power as it seeks a way out of the costly deadlock. "There are no conditions for the exercise of the rights of freedom of expression, assembly or peaceful protest," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk said. More than 200 people have been charged for disrupting or opposing the polls under a recently enacted legislation which imposes harsh penalties, including the possibility of execution. Film director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and comedian Ohn Daing were among the prominent figures convicted 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 Coercion Civilians are "facing pressure from all sides," Mr Türk said in a statement, pointing out that armed rebel groups have made warnings urging people to boycott the polls. The army has been fighting 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 large parts of the country in a series of major setbacks, but clawed back 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 operational hurdle 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 330 townships, with the remainder deemed not secure enough. Results 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 go to the polls, making it difficult to forecast a possible turnout. Six parties, including the junta-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while dozens more parties and independent candidates will contest only at the state or regional levels. Some 40 parties, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which scored landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been banned. Suu Kyi and a number of the party's key leaders have been jailed under charges broadly viewed as politically motivated, while the rest are in hiding abroad. Criticism and Rejection "Through dividing the vote into phases, the authorities can adjust tactics if the results in the initial round do not go their way," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts. Nations in the West, including the UK and the EU legislature, have rejected the vote as a pretence, while regional bloc 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 democracy with multiple parties". "This vote is being held for Myanmar. It is being held for the people of Myanmar. It is not being held for the international community," a junta spokesman told a briefing last week. Military leader 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 phased election over the next month. Myanmar is going to the polls in a vote widely dismissed 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 continuing internal conflict. A Phased Ballot Amid War The ruling junta is holding a staggered election nearly half a decade after it seized power in a coup, which sparked massive protests and spiralled into a devastating conflict. Observers say the military regime, with China's support, is attempting to validate and consolidate its power as it seeks a way out of the costly deadlock. "There are no conditions for the exercise of the rights of freedom of expression, assembly or peaceful protest," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk said. More than 200 people have been charged for disrupting or opposing the polls under a recently enacted legislation which imposes harsh penalties, including the possibility of execution. Film director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and comedian Ohn Daing were among the prominent figures convicted 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 Coercion Civilians are "facing pressure from all sides," Mr Türk said in a statement, pointing out that armed rebel groups have made warnings urging people to boycott the polls. The army has been fighting 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 large parts of the country in a series of major setbacks, but clawed back 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 operational hurdle 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 330 townships, with the remainder deemed not secure enough. Results 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 go to the polls, making it difficult to forecast a possible turnout. Six parties, including the junta-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while dozens more parties and independent candidates will contest only at the state or regional levels. Some 40 parties, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which scored landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been banned. Suu Kyi and a number of the party's key leaders have been jailed under charges broadly viewed as politically motivated, while the rest are in hiding abroad. Criticism and Rejection "Through dividing the vote into phases, the authorities can adjust tactics if the results in the initial round do not go their way," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts. Nations in the West, including the UK and the EU legislature, have rejected the vote as a pretence, while regional bloc 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 democracy with multiple parties". "This vote is being held for Myanmar. It is being held for the people of Myanmar. It is not being held for the international community," a junta spokesman told a briefing last week. Military leader Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who refuse to vote are rejecting "the path to democracy".