War-torn Burma Votes in Widely Criticised Political Theater.
Myanmar is going to the polls in a vote broadly rejected as a farce, with key opposition groups banned, many of their leaders jailed and a significant portion of the country unable to participate 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 seized power in a takeover, which sparked 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 deadlock.
"The environment does not allow for the exercise of the freedoms of freedom of expression, association or peaceful protest," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker TĂĽrk stated.
More than 200 people have been charged for disrupting or opposing the election under a recently enacted legislation which imposes severe punishments, including the possibility of execution.
Director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and comedian Ohn Daing were among the well-known individuals found guilty under the law, which was enacted in July. They were each given a prison sentence of seven years after speaking out against a promotional video promoting the elections.
Immense Challenges and Coercion
Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr TĂĽrk noted in a comment, adding that resistance forces have made warnings urging people to boycott the polls.
The military has been engaged on several fronts, against both pro-democracy fighters 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 enabled by support from Beijing and Moscow.
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
Voting is set to take place in three rounds over the next month in 274 of the country's 330 townships, with the remainder deemed not secure enough. 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 difficult to predict a possible turnout.
Six parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees 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 achieved 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 widely condemned as fabricated, while the rest are in hiding abroad.
International Condemnation
"By splitting the vote into phases, the junta can adjust tactics if the results in the first phase do not go their way," noted Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the watchdog group Spring Sprouts.
Western governments, including the UK and the European Parliament, have dismissed 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, maintaining that it aims to "restore a multi-party democratic system".
"This vote is being held for our nation. It is being held for the citizens of this country. It is not intended for the outside world," a military representative told a briefing 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".
