Conflict-ravaged Burma Goes to the Polls in Broadly Condemned 'Sham' Election.
Myanmar is going to the polls in a electoral process broadly rejected as a sham, 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 War
The ruling junta is holding a phased ballot nearly five years after it took control in a coup, which sparked widespread opposition and spiralled into a devastating conflict.
Analysts note the junta, with backing from Beijing, is seeking to legitimise and entrench its power as it looks for a way out of the costly deadlock.
"The environment does not allow for the exercise of the freedoms of freedom of expression, association 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 death penalty.
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 prison sentence of seven years after criticising a film promoting the elections.
Immense Challenges and Pressure
Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk said in a statement, adding that armed rebel groups 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 forces. It lost control of vast areas of the country in a series of major setbacks, but regained territory this year after sustained aerial bombardment made possible through support from Beijing and Moscow.
All of this and the fact that large parts of the country are still under opposition control presents a massive logistical challenge for conducting an election.
A Restricted Poll
The ballot 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 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 hold elections, making it challenging to forecast a likely turnout.
Six parties, including the junta-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, are fielding candidates nationwide, while another 51 parties and non-aligned contenders will compete only at the state or regional levels.
Some 40 parties, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which achieved landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been dissolved. Suu Kyi and many of the party's senior figures have been imprisoned under charges widely condemned as politically motivated, while the rest are in hiding abroad.
International Condemnation
"Through dividing the vote into stages, the junta can change their approach 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.
Nations in the West, including the UK and the EU legislature, have dismissed the vote as a pretence, while regional bloc Asean has called for political dialogue to precede any election.
The Myanmar regime has dismissed condemnation of the polls, insisting that it aims to "restore a multi-party democratic system".
"The election is being held for our nation. It is being held for the citizens of Myanmar. It is not intended for the international community," a military representative told a briefing last week.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are rejecting "progress toward democracy".
