Conflict-ravaged Myanmar Votes in Widely Criticised 'Sham' Election.
Myanmar is going to the polls in a electoral process widely dismissed as a farce, with major political parties dissolved, many of their leaders imprisoned and as much as half of the country unable to participate because of an continuing civil war.
A Staggered Vote Amid Conflict
The ruling junta is conducting a phased ballot nearly five years after it took control in a takeover, which ignited massive protests and escalated into a civil war.
Observers say the military regime, with China's support, is attempting to validate and consolidate its power as it seeks a way out of the devastating deadlock.
"The environment does not allow for the practice of the freedoms of free speech, assembly or peaceful protest," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk stated.
More than 200 people have been prosecuted for interfering with or criticising the election under a new law which carries severe punishments, including the death penalty.
Film director Mike Tee, actor 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 promotional video promoting the elections.
Immense Challenges and Coercion
Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk noted in a comment, pointing out that resistance forces have made warnings 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 militias. It ceded territory of large parts of the country in a series of major setbacks, but clawed back territory this year after relentless airstrikes 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 massive logistical challenge for holding an election.
A Restricted Poll
The ballot is set to take place in three rounds over the coming weeks in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the remainder deemed too unstable. Results 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, some districts will hold elections, making it difficult to forecast a possible turnout.
A handful of parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while another 51 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 decisive wins in 2015 and 2020, have been dissolved. Suu Kyi and a number of the party's senior figures have been imprisoned under charges broadly viewed as politically motivated, while the rest are in hiding abroad.
International Condemnation
"By splitting the vote into stages, the authorities can change their approach if the outcomes in the first phase do not go their way," noted Htin Kyaw Aye, a representative of the watchdog group Spring Sprouts.
Nations in the West, including the United Kingdom and the European Parliament, have dismissed the vote as a pretence, while regional bloc Asean has urged 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 democracy with multiple parties".
"This vote is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of Myanmar. It is not being held for the international community," a junta spokesman stated at a news conference last week.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who refuse to vote are turning their back on "the path to democracy".