Conflict-ravaged Burma Votes in Widely Criticised 'Sham' Election.
Myanmar is going to the polls in a electoral process broadly rejected as a farce, with key opposition groups banned, numerous figures imprisoned and as much as half of the country unable to participate because of an continuing internal conflict.
A Staggered Vote Amid War
The military government is conducting a staggered election nearly five years after it took control in a takeover, which sparked widespread opposition and spiralled into a civil war.
Analysts note the junta, with backing from Beijing, is seeking to legitimise and entrench its power as it looks for a way out of the devastating stalemate.
"The environment does not allow for the practice of the rights of freedom of expression, assembly or peaceful protest," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk stated.
Over two hundred people have been charged for disrupting or opposing the polls under a new law which imposes harsh penalties, including the possibility of execution.
Director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer Ohn Daing were among the well-known individuals convicted under the law, which was enacted in July. They were each handed a seven-year jail term after speaking out against a promotional video 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 issued their own threats asking people to boycott the polls.
The military has been engaged on multiple battlefields, against both armed resistance groups who oppose the coup, as well as ethnic armies which have their own forces. It ceded territory of vast areas of the country in a string of defeats, but regained territory this year following sustained aerial bombardment made possible through support from China and Russia.
All of this and the fact that large parts of the country are still under opposition control presents a huge logistical challenge for conducting an election.
A Restricted Poll
Voting is set to take place in three rounds over the next month in 274 of the country's 330 townships, with the rest deemed not secure enough. Outcomes 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, some districts will hold elections, making it difficult to forecast a possible turnout.
A handful of parties, including the junta-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while dozens more parties and non-aligned contenders will contest only at the local levels.
Some 40 parties, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which achieved decisive wins in 2015 and 2020, have been dissolved. Suu Kyi and many of the party's key leaders have been jailed under charges broadly viewed as fabricated, while the rest are in hiding abroad.
International Condemnation
"By splitting the vote into phases, the authorities 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 United Kingdom and the European Parliament, have rejected the vote as a sham, while regional bloc Asean has urged political dialogue to come before any election.
The Myanmar regime has rejected condemnation of the polls, insisting 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 citizens of this country. It is not intended for the outside world," a military representative told a news conference last week.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are rejecting "progress toward democracy".