Conflict-ravaged Myanmar Votes in Widely Criticised 'Sham' Election.
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 ongoing civil war.
A Staggered Vote Amid War
The ruling junta is holding a staggered election nearly half a decade after it took control in a coup, which ignited massive protests and spiralled into a civil war.
Analysts note the junta, with China's support, is attempting to validate and entrench its power as it looks for a way out of the costly deadlock.
"The environment does not allow for the practice of the rights 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 interfering with or opposing the polls under a new law which imposes severe punishments, including the death penalty.
Film director Mike Tee, actor 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 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 comment, adding that armed rebel groups 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 armies which have their own militias. It ceded territory of large parts of the country in a series of major setbacks, but regained territory this year following relentless airstrikes enabled by support from China and Russia.
All of this and the fact that large parts of the country are still under rebel administration presents a huge logistical challenge for holding an election.
A Restricted Poll
The ballot is set to take place in three rounds over the coming weeks in 274 of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the remainder deemed not secure enough. Results are expected around the end of January.
There is not expected to be any voting in up to fifty percent of the country. Even in the townships that are voting, some districts will go to the polls, making it difficult to forecast a likely turnout.
Six parties, including the junta-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while dozens more parties and independent candidates 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 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 stages, the authorities can adjust tactics if the outcomes in the initial round do not go their way," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a representative of the watchdog group Spring Sprouts.
Nations in the West, including the UK and the EU legislature, have rejected the vote as a pretence, while regional bloc Asean has called for political dialogue to precede any election.
The Myanmar regime has rejected condemnation of the polls, insisting 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 Myanmar. It is not being held for the outside world," a junta spokesman told a briefing last week.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who refuse to vote are turning their back on "progress toward democracy".