Conflict-ravaged Myanmar Goes to the Polls in Broadly Condemned Political Theater.
The nation is holding an election in a vote broadly rejected as a sham, with key opposition groups banned, numerous figures jailed and a significant portion of the country unlikely to vote because of an continuing civil war.
A Phased Ballot Amid Conflict
The military government is holding a staggered election nearly half a decade after it seized power in a takeover, which sparked massive protests and spiralled into a devastating conflict.
Observers say the junta, with backing from Beijing, is attempting to validate and entrench its power as it looks for a way out of the costly stalemate.
"There are no conditions for the exercise of the freedoms of free speech, assembly or peaceful assembly," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stated.
More than 200 people have been charged for disrupting or criticising the election under a new law which carries harsh penalties, including the death penalty.
Film director Mike Tee, performer Kyaw Win Htut and comedian Ohn Daing were among the prominent figures convicted under the law, which was passed in July. They were each given a seven-year jail term after criticising a film promoting the elections.
Logistical Nightmare and Coercion
Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk said in a statement, adding that resistance forces have made warnings urging people to boycott the polls.
The army has been engaged on multiple battlefields, against both pro-democracy fighters who reject the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own forces. It ceded territory of large parts of the country in a string of defeats, but clawed back territory this year after sustained aerial bombardment enabled by support from Beijing and Moscow.
All of this and the fact that significant regions of the country are still under opposition control presents a massive operational hurdle for conducting an election.
A Limited Vote
The ballot is set to take place in three phases over the coming weeks in 274 of the country's 330 townships, with the remainder deemed too unstable. Outcomes 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 hold elections, making it difficult to predict a likely turnout.
A handful of parties, including the junta-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while dozens more parties and independent candidates will compete 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 banned. Suu Kyi and a number of the party's senior figures have been imprisoned under charges widely condemned as fabricated, while the rest are in hiding abroad.
International Condemnation
"Through dividing the vote into phases, the authorities can adjust tactics if the results in the first phase do not go their way," noted Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the watchdog group Spring Sprouts.
Nations in the West, including the United Kingdom and the European Parliament, have rejected the vote as a pretence, while neighbouring group Asean has urged political dialogue to come before any election.
The Burmese junta has rejected condemnation of the polls, insisting that it aims to "return [the country] to a democracy with multiple parties".
"The election is being held for Myanmar. It is being held for the citizens of Myanmar. It is not intended for the international community," a junta spokesman stated at a news conference last week.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are rejecting "progress toward democracy".