Polling stations open on Sunday for the ultimate stage of Myanmar’s three-phase election, a one-sided vote that has been extensively derided as a sham, with politicians jailed, the principle opposition get together banned and battle raging throughout components of the nation.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has defended the vote as “free and truthful”, presenting it as a return to democracy and stability. The election is going on nearly 5 years after the navy seized energy in a coup, ousting the elected authorities of Aung San Suu Kyi and triggering a fierce battle. The 80-year-old has been detained since she was ousted, and her get together has been banned.
The UN, human rights specialists and a few western governments have rejected the election, saying it lacks legitimacy.
Tom Andrews, the particular rapporteur on the state of affairs of human rights in Myanmar, mentioned the vote had been orchestrated by the navy to make sure a landslide by its political proxy, the Union Solidarity and Growth get together (USDP).
“The junta is banking on the world’s fatigue, hoping that the worldwide group will settle for navy rule dressed up in civilian clothes,” he mentioned. “Governments should not enable that to occur.”
Simply days forward of voting, 21 folks have been killed and 28 injured in a navy airstrike on a village the place displaced folks from the northern township of Bhamo have been sheltering in Kachin state, Related Press reported. Voting is because of happen in Bhamo on Sunday.
In whole, 57 events are competing, although solely six are doing so nationwide, and analysts say not one of the events on the poll paper characterize anti-military sentiment. The USDP is operating by far the most important variety of candidates.
In keeping with election monitoring group Anfrel, 57% of the events that ran within the 2020 normal election not exist, despite the fact that they acquired greater than 70% of votes and 90% of seats.
Malaysia has mentioned the regional bloc, the Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), won’t endorse the ballot or ship observers. Nonetheless, it’s unclear if particular person member states will improve their engagement with Myanmar’s management after the vote. China, a key navy ally, is supporting the election, which it considers a path to stability.
The election has taken place in three phases, with the primary section held in December and a second section held earlier in January. Turnout appeared decrease than ordinary throughout earlier phases of voting in Yangon and the pre-election interval lacked the big rallies and pleasure of earlier votes. Many citizens in Yangon didn’t wish to be interviewed by media, saying it was not secure to debate politics brazenly.
A brand new election safety legislation was enacted in July, below which any criticism of the vote can result in a minimal sentence of three years in jail, and even the dying penalty.
Voting has been taking place in populous cities corresponding to Mandalay and Yangon however analysts estimate a couple of third of the nation’s territory has been excluded from the method as a result of it’s below the management of anti-junta teams or gripped by combating.
The navy coup in 2021 triggered a fierce battle that continues to rage throughout the nation, with a various patchwork of opposition teams combating towards junta rule. Acled, which tracks conflicts globally, has described it as “probably the most fragmented battle on the planet”, and locations the nation second on its battle index, which measures conflicts primarily based on their deadliness, hazard to civilians, geographic diffusion and the variety of armed teams concerned.
Su Mon, Acled’s senior analyst for Asia Pacific, mentioned that whereas the navy has sought to painting elections as a managed exit from political disaster and battle, its counter-offensives have solely elevated within the run-up to the vote. “In an effort to regain territory, the navy continued its repeated airstrikes on civilian areas all through 2025, resulting in the best variety of airstrikes and related fatalities in any single yr since 2021,” she mentioned.
Estimates of the dying toll from Myanmar’s post-coup battle fluctuate, although Acled has recorded 92,000 fatalities since 2021.
Su Mon mentioned: “As the ultimate spherical of elections unfolds, there are a number of foregone conclusions: the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Growth get together will win the election in a landslide, and battle will solely proceed to escalate.”
