Conflict-ravaged Burma Votes in Widely Criticised 'Sham' Election.
Myanmar is going to the polls in a vote widely dismissed as a sham, with major political parties banned, 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 half a decade after it took control in a takeover, which ignited widespread opposition and spiralled into a civil war.
Analysts note the military regime, with backing from Beijing, is attempting to validate and entrench its power as it seeks a way out of the devastating stalemate.
"The environment does not allow for the exercise of the freedoms of freedom of expression, assembly or peaceful protest," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk said.
More than 200 people have been prosecuted for disrupting or opposing the election under a recently enacted legislation which imposes severe punishments, including the death penalty.
Film director Mike Tee, performer Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer Ohn Daing were among the prominent figures convicted under the law, which was passed in July. They were each handed a prison sentence of seven years after speaking out against a film promoting the elections.
Immense Challenges and Coercion
Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk said in a comment, adding that resistance forces have issued their own threats urging people to boycott the polls.
The military has been engaged on multiple battlefields, against both armed resistance groups who oppose the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own militias. It lost control of vast areas of the country in a string of defeats, but clawed back territory this year following relentless airstrikes made possible through support from China and Russia.
All of this and the fact that significant regions of the country are still under opposition control presents a huge logistical challenge for conducting an election.
A Limited Vote
The ballot is set to take place in three rounds over the next month in 274 of the country's 330 townships, with the rest deemed too unstable. Outcomes 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, not all constituencies will hold elections, making it challenging to predict a likely turnout.
A handful of parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while another 51 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 achieved decisive wins in 2015 and 2020, have been dissolved. Suu Kyi and many of the party's senior figures have been imprisoned under charges broadly viewed as fabricated, while the rest are in exile.
International Condemnation
"By splitting the vote into phases, the authorities can change their approach if the results in the initial round do not go their way," commented 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 Myanmar regime has rejected criticism of the polls, maintaining that it aims to "restore a democracy with multiple parties".
"This vote is being held for our nation. It is being held for the citizens of this country. It is not being held for the outside world," a junta spokesman stated at a news conference last week.
Military leader Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who refuse to vote are rejecting "the path to democracy".