Conflict-ravaged Myanmar Votes in Widely Criticised 'Sham' Election.
The nation is holding an election in a electoral process widely dismissed as a sham, with key opposition groups banned, many of their leaders jailed and a significant portion of the country unlikely to vote because of an continuing civil war.
A Phased Ballot Amid War
The military government is holding a phased ballot nearly half a decade after it seized power in a coup, which ignited widespread opposition and spiralled into a devastating conflict.
Observers say the military regime, with backing from Beijing, is attempting to validate and entrench its power as it seeks a way out of the devastating deadlock.
"The environment does not allow for the practice of the freedoms of free speech, association or peaceful assembly," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk said.
More than 200 people have been charged for interfering with or criticising the election under a recently enacted legislation which carries severe punishments, including the possibility of execution.
Director Mike Tee, performer Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer Ohn Daing were among the prominent figures convicted under the law, which was enacted 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 "facing pressure from all sides," Mr Türk said in a comment, adding that resistance forces have made warnings urging people to shun the polls.
The military 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 lost control of vast areas of the country in a string of defeats, but clawed back territory this year after relentless airstrikes made possible through support from China and Russia.
All of this and the fact that large parts of the country are still under opposition control presents a massive operational hurdle for conducting an election.
A Restricted Poll
Voting is set to take place in three rounds over the next month in 274 of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the rest 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, some districts will hold elections, making it difficult 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 non-aligned contenders will compete only at the local levels.
Some 40 parties, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which scored decisive wins in 2015 and 2020, have been dissolved. Suu Kyi and a number of the party's key leaders have been imprisoned under charges broadly viewed as fabricated, while others are in hiding abroad.
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 election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts.
Nations in the West, including the United Kingdom and the EU legislature, have rejected the vote as a sham, while regional bloc Asean has called for negotiations to come before any election.
The Burmese junta has dismissed criticism of the polls, maintaining that it aims to "return [the country] to a multi-party democratic system".
"This vote is being held for Myanmar. It is being held for the citizens of this country. It is not being held for the international community," a junta spokesman told a news conference last week.
Military leader Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who refuse to vote are turning their back on "the path to democracy".
