🔗 Share this article War-torn Burma Goes to the Polls in Broadly Condemned Political Theater. Myanmar's military is conducting a staggered election over the next month. The nation is holding an election in a vote widely dismissed as a farce, with major political parties dissolved, many of their leaders jailed and as much as half of the country unlikely to vote because of an continuing civil war. A Staggered Vote Amid Conflict The military government is conducting a staggered election nearly five years after it seized power in a coup, which sparked massive protests and escalated into a devastating conflict. Observers say the junta, with China's support, is attempting to validate and entrench its power as it seeks a way out of the costly deadlock. "There are no conditions for the practice of the rights of freedom of expression, association or peaceful protest," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk said. More than 200 people have been prosecuted for disrupting or criticising the election under a new law which carries harsh penalties, including the possibility of execution. Director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and comedian Ohn Daing were among the prominent figures convicted under the law, which was enacted in July. They were each handed a seven-year jail term after speaking out against a film promoting the elections. Logistical Nightmare and Coercion Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk said in a comment, adding that armed rebel groups have issued their own threats urging people to shun the polls. The military has been fighting on several fronts, against both pro-democracy fighters who reject the coup, as well as ethnic armies 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 following relentless airstrikes made possible through 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 rounds over the next month in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the remainder deemed too unstable. Outcomes are expected around the end of January. There is not expected to be any voting in up to fifty percent 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 military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees 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 landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been banned. Suu Kyi and a number of the party's senior figures have been imprisoned under charges broadly viewed as fabricated, while others are in exile. International Condemnation "By splitting the vote into phases, the authorities can adjust tactics if the results in the first phase do not go their way," noted Htin Kyaw Aye, a representative of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts. Western governments, including the UK and the European Parliament, have dismissed the vote as a sham, while regional bloc Asean has urged negotiations to precede any election. The Myanmar regime has dismissed condemnation of the polls, maintaining that it aims to "restore a democracy with multiple parties". "The election is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of this country. It is not intended for the outside world," a military representative stated at a briefing last week. Military leader Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are rejecting "progress toward democracy".
Myanmar's military is conducting a staggered election over the next month. The nation is holding an election in a vote widely dismissed as a farce, with major political parties dissolved, many of their leaders jailed and as much as half of the country unlikely to vote because of an continuing civil war. A Staggered Vote Amid Conflict The military government is conducting a staggered election nearly five years after it seized power in a coup, which sparked massive protests and escalated into a devastating conflict. Observers say the junta, with China's support, is attempting to validate and entrench its power as it seeks a way out of the costly deadlock. "There are no conditions for the practice of the rights of freedom of expression, association or peaceful protest," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk said. More than 200 people have been prosecuted for disrupting or criticising the election under a new law which carries harsh penalties, including the possibility of execution. Director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and comedian Ohn Daing were among the prominent figures convicted under the law, which was enacted in July. They were each handed a seven-year jail term after speaking out against a film promoting the elections. Logistical Nightmare and Coercion Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk said in a comment, adding that armed rebel groups have issued their own threats urging people to shun the polls. The military has been fighting on several fronts, against both pro-democracy fighters who reject the coup, as well as ethnic armies 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 following relentless airstrikes made possible through 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 rounds over the next month in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the remainder deemed too unstable. Outcomes are expected around the end of January. There is not expected to be any voting in up to fifty percent 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 military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees 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 landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been banned. Suu Kyi and a number of the party's senior figures have been imprisoned under charges broadly viewed as fabricated, while others are in exile. International Condemnation "By splitting the vote into phases, the authorities can adjust tactics if the results in the first phase do not go their way," noted Htin Kyaw Aye, a representative of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts. Western governments, including the UK and the European Parliament, have dismissed the vote as a sham, while regional bloc Asean has urged negotiations to precede any election. The Myanmar regime has dismissed condemnation of the polls, maintaining that it aims to "restore a democracy with multiple parties". "The election is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of this country. It is not intended for the outside world," a military representative stated at a briefing last week. Military leader Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are rejecting "progress toward democracy".