War-torn Myanmar Votes in Broadly Condemned 'Sham' Election.
The nation is holding an election in a vote broadly rejected as a farce, with major political parties dissolved, many of their leaders imprisoned and a significant portion of the country unlikely to vote because of an continuing civil war.
A Staggered Vote Amid War
The military government is holding a phased ballot nearly half a decade after it took control in a takeover, which ignited massive protests and escalated 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 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 severe punishments, including the possibility of execution.
Director Mike Tee, performer Kyaw Win Htut and comedian Ohn Daing were among the prominent figures found guilty under the law, which was enacted in July. They were each given a seven-year jail term after speaking out against a film promoting the elections.
Immense Challenges and Coercion
Civilians are "facing pressure from all sides," Mr Türk said in a comment, adding that resistance forces have issued their own threats asking people to boycott the polls.
The military has been engaged on multiple battlefields, against both pro-democracy fighters who reject the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own forces. It ceded territory of large parts of the country in a string of defeats, but clawed back 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 operational hurdle for conducting an election.
A Limited Vote
The ballot is set to take place in three phases over the next month in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the rest deemed not secure enough. Outcomes are expected by late January.
There is unlikely 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 challenging to forecast a likely turnout.
Six parties, including the junta-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while another 51 parties and non-aligned contenders will compete only at the local levels.
Some 40 parties, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which achieved decisive wins in 2015 and 2020, have been banned. Suu Kyi and many of the party's senior figures have been jailed under charges broadly viewed as politically motivated, while others are in exile.
International Condemnation
"By splitting the vote into stages, the junta can adjust tactics if the results in the first phase do not go their way," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the watchdog group Spring Sprouts.
Western governments, including the UK and the European Parliament, have rejected the vote as a pretence, while neighbouring group Asean has called for political dialogue to come before 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".
"The election is being held for Myanmar. It is being held for the citizens of this country. It is not being held for the outside world," 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 "the path to democracy".