War-torn Myanmar Votes 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 Staggered Vote Amid Conflict
The ruling junta is conducting a phased ballot nearly five years after it seized power in a takeover, which sparked massive protests and spiralled into a devastating conflict.
Observers say the junta, with China's support, is attempting to validate and consolidate its power as it seeks a way out of the devastating stalemate.
"There are no conditions for the practice of the freedoms of freedom of expression, association or peaceful assembly," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk said.
More than 200 people have been prosecuted for interfering with or opposing the polls under a new law which carries severe punishments, including the death penalty.
Director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and comedian Ohn Daing were among the well-known individuals convicted under the law, which was enacted in July. They were each given a seven-year jail term after criticising a film promoting the elections.
Logistical Nightmare and Coercion
Civilians are "facing pressure from all sides," Mr Türk noted in a statement, pointing out that resistance forces have issued their own threats asking people to shun the polls.
The army has been fighting on several fronts, against both pro-democracy fighters who oppose the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations 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 following relentless airstrikes enabled by support from China and Russia.
All of this and the fact that significant regions of the country are still under rebel administration presents a huge logistical challenge for conducting an election.
A Restricted Poll
Voting is set to take place in three rounds over the next month in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's 330 townships, with the rest deemed not secure enough. Results are expected around the end of January.
There is unlikely to be any voting in as much as one half of the country. Even in the townships that are voting, not all constituencies will hold elections, making it challenging to forecast a likely turnout.
Six parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, are fielding candidates nationwide, while dozens more parties and independent candidates will compete 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 dissolved. Suu Kyi and many of the party's key leaders have been jailed under charges broadly viewed as fabricated, while others are in hiding abroad.
Criticism and Rejection
"By splitting 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 representative of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts.
Western governments, including the UK 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, maintaining that it aims to "restore a multi-party democratic system".
"This vote is being held for Myanmar. It is being held for the citizens of Myanmar. It is not being held for the outside world," a junta spokesman told a briefing last week.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who refuse to vote are rejecting "progress toward democracy".
