Conflict-ravaged Myanmar Votes in Broadly Condemned 'Sham' Election.
Myanmar is going to the polls in a vote broadly rejected as a sham, with key opposition groups banned, numerous figures jailed and a significant portion of the country unlikely to vote because of an continuing internal conflict.
A Phased Ballot Amid War
The ruling junta is conducting a staggered election nearly half a decade after it took control in a coup, which ignited massive protests and spiralled into a civil war.
Analysts note the military regime, 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 exercise of the rights of free speech, association or peaceful assembly," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stated.
More than 200 people have been charged for disrupting or criticising the election under a new law which carries harsh penalties, including the death penalty.
Film director Mike Tee, performer Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer Ohn Daing were among the well-known individuals convicted under the law, which was enacted in July. They were each handed a seven-year jail term after speaking out against a film endorsing the elections.
Immense Challenges and Pressure
Civilians are "facing pressure from all sides," Mr Türk said in a statement, pointing out that resistance forces have issued their own threats asking people to boycott the polls.
The army has been fighting on multiple battlefields, against both pro-democracy fighters who oppose the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own forces. It ceded territory of vast areas 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 logistical challenge for holding an election.
A Limited Vote
The ballot is set to take place in three phases over the coming weeks 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 not expected to be any voting in as much as one half of the country. Even in the townships that are voting, not all constituencies 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 non-aligned contenders will compete 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 key leaders have been imprisoned under charges widely condemned as politically motivated, while the rest are in hiding abroad.
Criticism and Rejection
"By splitting the vote into phases, the junta can adjust tactics if the results in the initial round do not go their way," noted Htin Kyaw Aye, a representative of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts.
Nations in the West, including the United Kingdom and the EU legislature, have dismissed the vote as a pretence, while neighbouring group Asean has called for political dialogue to precede any election.
The Myanmar regime has dismissed condemnation of the polls, insisting that it aims to "return [the country] to a democracy with multiple parties".
"The election 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 junta spokesman stated at a briefing last week.
Military leader Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who refuse to vote are rejecting "the path to democracy".