Conflict-ravaged Myanmar Votes in Broadly Condemned 'Sham' Election.
The nation is holding an election in a vote widely dismissed as a farce, with key opposition groups dissolved, many of their leaders jailed and as much as half of the country unable to participate because of an ongoing internal conflict.
A Staggered Vote Amid Conflict
The ruling junta is conducting a staggered election nearly half a decade after it seized power in a takeover, which sparked massive protests and spiralled into a civil war.
Analysts note the military regime, with China's support, is attempting to validate and entrench its power as it looks for a way out of the devastating stalemate.
"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 Türk stated.
Over two hundred people have been charged for interfering with or criticising the election under a recently enacted legislation which carries severe punishments, including the possibility of execution.
Director Mike Tee, performer Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer Ohn Daing were among the well-known individuals found guilty under the law, which was passed in July. They were each handed a prison sentence of seven years after criticising a promotional video endorsing the elections.
Logistical Nightmare and Pressure
Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk said in a statement, pointing out that armed rebel groups have issued their own threats asking people to boycott the polls.
The military has been engaged on several fronts, against both pro-democracy fighters who oppose the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own militias. It ceded territory of vast areas of the country in a string of defeats, but regained territory this year after relentless airstrikes enabled by support from Beijing and Moscow.
All of this and the fact that significant regions of the country are still under rebel administration presents a massive logistical challenge for conducting an election.
A Restricted Poll
Voting is set to take place in three phases over the coming weeks in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the remainder deemed too unstable. 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, some districts will go to the polls, making it difficult to predict 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 contest only at the local levels.
Approximately forty groups, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which scored decisive wins in 2015 and 2020, have been dissolved. Suu Kyi and many of the party's key leaders have been imprisoned under charges broadly viewed as politically motivated, while the rest are in exile.
Criticism and Rejection
"Through dividing the vote into phases, the authorities can adjust tactics if the outcomes in the initial round do not go their way," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts.
Nations in the West, including the United Kingdom and the EU legislature, have dismissed the vote as a sham, while regional bloc Asean has urged negotiations to come before any election.
The Burmese junta has dismissed condemnation of the polls, maintaining that it aims to "return [the country] to a democracy with multiple parties".
"This vote is being held for Myanmar. It is being held for the citizens of Myanmar. It is not intended for the outside world," a military representative stated at a briefing last week.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who refuse to vote are turning their back on "progress toward democracy".