Conflict-ravaged Burma Goes to the Polls in Broadly Condemned Political Theater.
Myanmar is going to the polls in a vote widely dismissed as a farce, with major political parties dissolved, numerous figures jailed and a significant portion of the country unlikely to vote because of an ongoing internal conflict.
A Phased Ballot Amid Conflict
The military government is conducting a staggered election nearly half a decade after it seized power in a takeover, which ignited widespread opposition and escalated into a civil war.
Observers say the military regime, with backing from Beijing, is seeking to legitimise and entrench its power as it seeks a way out of the devastating stalemate.
"The environment does not allow for the practice of the freedoms of free speech, association or peaceful protest," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk said.
Over two hundred people have been prosecuted for interfering with or opposing the polls 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 found guilty under the law, which was passed in July. They were each handed a seven-year jail term after speaking out against a promotional video promoting the elections.
Logistical Nightmare and Pressure
Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk said in a comment, pointing out that armed rebel groups have issued their own threats asking people to shun the polls.
The military has been fighting on several fronts, against both armed resistance groups who oppose the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own militias. It lost control of large parts of the country in a series of major setbacks, but clawed back territory this year after sustained aerial bombardment enabled by support from Beijing and Moscow.
All of this and the fact that large parts of the country are still under opposition control presents a huge operational hurdle for conducting an election.
A Restricted Poll
The ballot is set to take place in three phases over the next month in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's 330 townships, with the remainder deemed too unstable. Results are expected around the end of January.
There is unlikely to be any voting in up to fifty percent of the country. Even in the townships that are voting, not all constituencies will go to the polls, making it difficult to forecast a possible turnout.
A handful of parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, are fielding candidates 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 scored landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been banned. Suu Kyi and many of the party's senior figures have been jailed under charges widely condemned as fabricated, while the rest are in exile.
International Condemnation
"By splitting the vote into phases, the junta can adjust tactics if the outcomes in the first phase do not go their way," noted Htin Kyaw Aye, a representative of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts.
Nations in the West, including the United Kingdom and the EU legislature, have rejected the vote as a sham, while regional bloc Asean has urged negotiations to precede any election.
The Myanmar regime has rejected criticism of the polls, insisting that it aims to "return [the country] to a multi-party democratic system".
"The election is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of Myanmar. It is not being held for the international community," a junta spokesman told a news conference last week.
Military leader Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who refuse to vote are rejecting "progress toward democracy".