Conflict-ravaged Myanmar Votes in Broadly Condemned Political Theater.
Myanmar is going to the polls in a electoral process broadly rejected as a sham, with major political parties dissolved, many of their leaders imprisoned and a significant portion of the country unlikely to vote because of an continuing internal conflict.
A Staggered Vote Amid Conflict
The military government 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 junta, with China's support, is seeking to legitimise and consolidate its power as it seeks a way out of the costly deadlock.
"There are no conditions for the exercise of the rights of freedom of expression, association or peaceful protest," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker TĂŒrk said.
Over two hundred people have been charged for interfering with or opposing the election under a new law which carries harsh penalties, including the death penalty.
Director Mike Tee, performer Kyaw Win Htut and comedian Ohn Daing were among the prominent figures convicted under the law, which was passed in July. They were each handed a seven-year jail term after speaking out against a promotional video promoting the elections.
Immense Challenges and Coercion
Civilians are "facing pressure from all sides," Mr TĂŒrk said in a comment, adding that armed rebel groups have made warnings asking people to boycott the polls.
The army has been engaged on several fronts, against both armed resistance groups 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 string of defeats, but clawed back territory this year after sustained aerial bombardment enabled by support from China and Russia.
All of this and the fact that significant regions of the country are still under opposition control presents a massive operational hurdle for conducting an election.
A Restricted Poll
The ballot is set to take place in three phases over the next month in 274 of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the rest deemed not secure enough. 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, not all constituencies will hold elections, 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 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 scored landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been dissolved. Suu Kyi and many of the party's senior figures have been jailed under charges widely condemned as fabricated, while others are in exile.
International Condemnation
"By splitting the vote into phases, the junta can change their approach if the results in the first phase do not go their way," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a representative of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts.
Nations in the West, including the UK and the European Parliament, have dismissed the vote as a pretence, while neighbouring group Asean has called for negotiations to precede any election.
The Burmese junta has rejected condemnation of the polls, insisting that it aims to "return [the country] to a multi-party democratic system".
"The election is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people 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 "progress toward democracy".
