Conflict-ravaged Myanmar Goes to the Polls in Broadly Condemned Political Theater.
Myanmar is going to the polls in a vote broadly rejected as a farce, with key opposition groups banned, numerous figures imprisoned and a significant portion of the country unable to participate because of an ongoing internal conflict.
A Phased Ballot Amid War
The military government is holding a phased ballot nearly five years after it seized power in a coup, which sparked widespread opposition and escalated into a civil war.
Observers say the junta, with backing from Beijing, is seeking to legitimise and entrench its power as it looks for a way out of the devastating deadlock.
"There are no conditions for the exercise of the rights of freedom of expression, assembly or peaceful assembly," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker TΓΌrk said.
More than 200 people have been prosecuted for interfering with or opposing the polls under a recently enacted legislation which carries severe punishments, including the death penalty.
Film director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer 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 criticising a promotional video promoting the elections.
Logistical Nightmare and Coercion
Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr TΓΌrk noted in a statement, pointing out that resistance forces have made warnings urging people to boycott the polls.
The military has been engaged on multiple battlefields, against both pro-democracy fighters 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 clawed back territory this year after sustained aerial bombardment made possible through 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 logistical challenge for conducting an election.
A Restricted Poll
Voting is set to take place in three rounds over the coming weeks in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the remainder 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, some districts will go to the polls, making it difficult to forecast a likely turnout.
Six parties, including the military-backed 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.
Approximately forty groups, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which scored landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been banned. Suu Kyi and a number of the party's senior figures have been imprisoned under charges widely condemned as politically motivated, while the rest are in hiding abroad.
International Condemnation
"Through dividing the vote into stages, the junta can change their approach if the outcomes in the initial round do not go their way," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the watchdog group Spring Sprouts.
Western governments, including the United Kingdom and the European Parliament, have dismissed the vote as a pretence, while neighbouring group Asean has called for political dialogue to come before any election.
The Burmese junta has rejected criticism of the polls, maintaining that it aims to "restore a democracy with multiple parties".
"This vote is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people 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 turning their back on "progress toward democracy".
