Voters in military-controlled areas of Myanmar headed to the polls Sunday in a phased election largely considered a sham and expected to favour the junta-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party.
A total of 4,863 candidates from 57 political parties are competing, according to the Union Election Commission. Final results of the elections, which can’t be held in rebel-held areas, are expected to be announced in late January.
The vote marks the initial step toward what the military hails as restoration of democracy in the Southeast Asian country nearly five years after it ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in a bloody 2021 coup. At stake for the junta is a chance to end its broad isolation and renew investments, making the case that it’s following the constitution and holding elections under leader Min Aung Hlaing.
Still, observers are describing the elections as flawed amid the military’s tenuous control over the country, a raging civil war and a brutal crackdown on political opponents. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, which won the previous two elections by a landslide, is banned from participating in the election.
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The United Nations has described the election backdrop as “an atmosphere of fear, violence and deep political repression, with thousands detained and major parties excluded in a process that risks entrenching instability rather than restoring democracy.”
Earlier this week, United Nations’ human rights chief Volker Türk said civilians were threatened by authorities to participate in the vote. “The military authorities in Myanmar must stop using brutal violence to compel people to vote, and stop arresting people for expressing any dissenting views,” he said.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing cast his ballot in Zeyathiri township of the capital Naypyidaw, and pledged a “free and fair” election, the ruling National Defence and Security Council said in a statement Sunday.
Hundreds of voters were observed queuing at several polling stations in Yangon Region. Security has been tightened in certain areas with blockades near some polling stations, and cars and motorbikes prevented from entering without permission.
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“It’s so crowded that I had to wait for about two hours to cast my vote,” said Aung Kyaw Oo, a voter in Taikkyi township of Yangon, the largest in the region by geographical area.
The first phase of the election will cover 102 out of 330 townships, the second on Jan. 11 includes another 100 and the final round on Jan. 25 will involve only 63.
Several diplomats from western democracies said they won’t send election observers despite the junta’s invitation. State media reported teams from Russia, China, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Vietnam, Nicaragua, India, and Myanmar-Japan Association have arrived in the country to observe the poll.
The Union Solidarity and Development Party said it’s confident that it would return to office after the elections.
“We believe we will win the majority of seats this time and have the capability to form a government systematically,” USDP spokesman Hla Thein said Sunday.
Sean Turnell, a professor at Macquarie University in Australia who previously worked as an economic adviser to Suu Kyi and was imprisoned after the 2021 coup, said the election shouldn’t give political cover to other governments to help Myanmar return to the global stage.
“Shame indeed should attach to any country or organisation that uses this cynical piece of theatre to normalise relations with the junta,” he told Bloomberg.
Some opposition parties are braced for failure even as they participate in the polls.
“It’s like a one-sided game but we’re competing in this election in the hope of winning one or two seats that could actually raise the voice of locals at the parliament,” said Nay Zar Lin, a member of the chief executive committee of Myanmar Farmers’ Development Party, one of six parties that are competing nationwide.
Myanmar’s civil war has killed as many as 90,000 people with vast swathes of territory under rebel control and roughly half the population living in poverty. – Bloomberg
