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 banned, numerous figures imprisoned and a significant portion of the country unlikely to vote because of an ongoing civil war.
A Staggered Vote Amid Conflict
The military government is conducting a staggered election nearly half a decade after it seized power in a takeover, which ignited widespread opposition and escalated into a devastating conflict.
Observers say the junta, with backing from Beijing, is attempting to validate and consolidate its power as it looks for a way out of the costly deadlock.
"There are no conditions for the practice of the rights of free speech, association or peaceful assembly," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk said.
Over two hundred people have been prosecuted for disrupting or opposing the polls under a new law which carries severe punishments, including the death penalty.
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 handed a prison sentence of seven years after criticising a film promoting the elections.
Immense Challenges and Pressure
Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk noted in a statement, pointing out that resistance forces have made warnings asking people to shun the polls.
The army has been fighting on several fronts, against both armed resistance groups who oppose the coup, as well as ethnic armies which have their own forces. It ceded territory of large parts of the country in a series of major setbacks, but regained 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 rebel administration presents a massive operational hurdle for conducting 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 330 townships, with the rest deemed not secure enough. 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, not all constituencies will hold elections, making it difficult to forecast a likely turnout.
Six parties, including the junta-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, are fielding candidates nationwide, while dozens more parties and independent candidates will compete only at the state or regional levels.
Approximately forty groups, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which scored landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been dissolved. 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
"Through dividing the vote into phases, 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 election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts.
Western governments, including the United Kingdom and the European Parliament, have dismissed the vote as a sham, while neighbouring group Asean has urged political dialogue to precede any election.
The Burmese junta has rejected condemnation of the polls, insisting that it aims to "restore a democracy with multiple parties".
"This vote is being held for Myanmar. It is being held for the people of Myanmar. It is not intended for the international community," a junta spokesman stated at a briefing last week.
Military leader Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are rejecting "progress toward democracy".
