🔗 Share this article Conflict-ravaged Myanmar Goes to the Polls in Broadly Condemned 'Sham' Election. Myanmar's military is holding a staggered vote over the coming weeks. The nation is holding an election in a vote broadly rejected as a sham, with key opposition groups banned, many of their leaders imprisoned and a significant portion of the country unable to participate because of an ongoing internal conflict. A Phased Ballot Amid Conflict The military government is holding a phased ballot nearly five years after it took control in a coup, which ignited massive protests and escalated into a devastating conflict. Analysts note the military regime, with China's support, 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 exercise of the freedoms of freedom of expression, association or peaceful assembly," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk stated. More than 200 people have been charged for interfering with or opposing the election under a new law which imposes severe punishments, including the death penalty. Director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer 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 speaking out against a promotional video endorsing the elections. Logistical Nightmare and Pressure Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk said in a statement, adding that armed rebel groups have issued their own threats asking people to shun the polls. The army has been engaged on several fronts, against both armed resistance groups who oppose the coup, as well as ethnic armies which have their own forces. It ceded territory of vast areas of the country in a string of defeats, but clawed back territory this year following relentless airstrikes 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 massive operational hurdle for conducting an election. A Restricted Poll Voting is set to take place in three rounds over the next month in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's 330 townships, with the rest deemed too unstable. Results are expected by late January. There is not expected 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 challenging to predict a possible turnout. Six parties, including the junta-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while another 51 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 achieved landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been banned. Suu Kyi and many of the party's senior figures have been imprisoned under charges broadly viewed as fabricated, while others are in exile. Criticism and Rejection "By splitting the vote into stages, 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. Western governments, including the UK and the European Parliament, have rejected the vote as a pretence, while regional bloc Asean has called for negotiations to precede any election. The Myanmar regime has dismissed condemnation of the polls, maintaining that it aims to "return [the country] to 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 intended for the international community," a junta spokesman told a news conference last week. Military leader Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are turning their back on "progress toward democracy".
Myanmar's military is holding a staggered vote over the coming weeks. The nation is holding an election in a vote broadly rejected as a sham, with key opposition groups banned, many of their leaders imprisoned and a significant portion of the country unable to participate because of an ongoing internal conflict. A Phased Ballot Amid Conflict The military government is holding a phased ballot nearly five years after it took control in a coup, which ignited massive protests and escalated into a devastating conflict. Analysts note the military regime, with China's support, 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 exercise of the freedoms of freedom of expression, association or peaceful assembly," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk stated. More than 200 people have been charged for interfering with or opposing the election under a new law which imposes severe punishments, including the death penalty. Director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer 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 speaking out against a promotional video endorsing the elections. Logistical Nightmare and Pressure Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk said in a statement, adding that armed rebel groups have issued their own threats asking people to shun the polls. The army has been engaged on several fronts, against both armed resistance groups who oppose the coup, as well as ethnic armies which have their own forces. It ceded territory of vast areas of the country in a string of defeats, but clawed back territory this year following relentless airstrikes 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 massive operational hurdle for conducting an election. A Restricted Poll Voting is set to take place in three rounds over the next month in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's 330 townships, with the rest deemed too unstable. Results are expected by late January. There is not expected 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 challenging to predict a possible turnout. Six parties, including the junta-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while another 51 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 achieved landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been banned. Suu Kyi and many of the party's senior figures have been imprisoned under charges broadly viewed as fabricated, while others are in exile. Criticism and Rejection "By splitting the vote into stages, 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. Western governments, including the UK and the European Parliament, have rejected the vote as a pretence, while regional bloc Asean has called for negotiations to precede any election. The Myanmar regime has dismissed condemnation of the polls, maintaining that it aims to "return [the country] to 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 intended for the international community," a junta spokesman told a news conference last week. Military leader Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are turning their back on "progress toward democracy".