Conflict-ravaged Burma Goes to the Polls in Broadly Condemned Political Theater.
Myanmar is going to the polls in a vote broadly rejected as a sham, with major political parties dissolved, numerous figures jailed and as much as half of the country unable to participate because of an continuing internal conflict.
A Phased Ballot Amid War
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.
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 stalemate.
"The environment does not allow for the exercise of the freedoms of free speech, association or peaceful protest," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said.
More than 200 people have been charged for disrupting or criticising the election under a recently enacted legislation which imposes harsh penalties, including the possibility of execution.
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 given a seven-year jail term after criticising a promotional video promoting the elections.
Immense Challenges and Coercion
Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk noted in a statement, pointing out that armed rebel groups have made warnings urging people to shun 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 series of major setbacks, but regained territory this year following sustained aerial bombardment made possible through support from Beijing and Moscow.
All of this and the fact that large parts of the country are still under rebel administration presents a huge operational hurdle for holding an election.
A Limited Vote
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 rest 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, not all constituencies 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 another 51 parties and non-aligned contenders will compete only at the local levels.
Approximately forty groups, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which scored landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been dissolved. Suu Kyi and a number of the party's senior figures have been imprisoned under charges broadly viewed as politically motivated, while the rest are in exile.
International Condemnation
"By splitting the vote into phases, the junta can change their approach if the results in the initial round do not go their way," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the watchdog group Spring Sprouts.
Nations in the West, including the United Kingdom and the EU legislature, have rejected the vote as a sham, while neighbouring group Asean has called for negotiations to come before any election.
The Burmese junta has dismissed condemnation of the polls, insisting that it aims to "return [the country] to a democracy with multiple parties".
"The election is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of Myanmar. It is not being held for the outside world," a military representative told a news conference last week.
Military leader Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who refuse to vote are turning their back on "progress toward democracy".
