War-torn Burma Votes in Widely Criticised 'Sham' Election.
Myanmar is going to the polls in a vote widely dismissed as a farce, with key opposition groups dissolved, numerous figures jailed and a significant portion of the country unlikely to vote because of an ongoing civil war.
A Phased Ballot Amid Conflict
The ruling junta is holding a staggered election nearly five years after it took control in a coup, which sparked massive protests and escalated into a devastating conflict.
Observers say the military regime, with China's support, is attempting to validate and consolidate its power as it looks for a way out of the devastating deadlock.
"There are no conditions for the practice of the rights of free speech, assembly or peaceful protest," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk said.
Over two hundred people have been charged for interfering with or opposing the election under a recently enacted legislation which imposes harsh penalties, including the death penalty.
Director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer Ohn Daing were among the prominent figures found guilty under the law, which was passed in July. They were each handed a prison sentence of seven years after criticising a film promoting the elections.
Logistical Nightmare and Coercion
Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk said in a statement, adding that armed rebel groups have issued their own threats urging 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 armies which have their own militias. It lost control of large parts of the country in a series of major setbacks, but clawed back territory this year following relentless airstrikes made possible through support from Beijing and Moscow.
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 Limited Vote
The ballot is set to take place in three rounds over the next month in 274 of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the remainder deemed too unstable. Results are expected around the end of 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 hold elections, making it challenging to forecast a possible turnout.
A handful of parties, including the junta-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while another 51 parties and independent candidates 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 banned. Suu Kyi and a number of the party's key leaders have been imprisoned under charges widely condemned as fabricated, while others are in hiding abroad.
International Condemnation
"By splitting the vote into stages, the junta can change their approach if the results in the initial round do not go their way," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a representative of the watchdog group Spring Sprouts.
Western governments, including the UK and the European Parliament, have dismissed the vote as a pretence, while regional bloc Asean has called for political dialogue to precede any election.
The Burmese junta has rejected criticism of the polls, maintaining that it aims to "return [the country] to a multi-party democratic system".
"This vote is being held for Myanmar. It is being held for the citizens of this country. It is not intended for the outside world," a junta spokesman told a news conference last week.
Military leader Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are turning their back on "progress toward democracy".
