Conflict-ravaged Burma Votes in Broadly Condemned Political Theater.
The nation is holding an election in a electoral process broadly rejected as a farce, with major political parties dissolved, many of their leaders jailed and a significant portion of the country unable to participate because of an continuing civil war.
A Phased Ballot Amid War
The military government is conducting a staggered election nearly five years after it seized power in a takeover, which ignited massive protests and spiralled into a devastating conflict.
Observers say the junta, with China's support, is seeking to legitimise and entrench its power as it seeks a way out of the devastating deadlock.
"There are no conditions for the practice of the freedoms of free speech, association or peaceful protest," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stated.
More than 200 people have been charged for disrupting or criticising the election under a recently enacted legislation which carries severe punishments, including the possibility of execution.
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 prison sentence of seven years after speaking out against a film promoting the elections.
Logistical Nightmare and Coercion
Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk noted in a statement, adding that resistance forces have made warnings asking people to boycott the polls.
The military has been fighting on multiple battlefields, against both armed resistance groups who reject the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own forces. It ceded territory of vast areas of the country in a series of major setbacks, but clawed back territory this year following relentless airstrikes made possible through 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 holding an election.
A Limited Vote
Voting 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 unlikely 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 challenging 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 independent candidates will contest only at the state or regional levels.
Some 40 parties, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which achieved decisive wins in 2015 and 2020, have been banned. Suu Kyi and a number of the party's key leaders have been imprisoned under charges broadly viewed as politically motivated, while the rest are in hiding abroad.
International Condemnation
"By splitting the vote into stages, the junta can adjust tactics if the outcomes in the initial round do not go their way," noted Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts.
Nations in the West, including the United Kingdom and the European Parliament, have dismissed the vote as a sham, while regional bloc Asean has urged negotiations to precede any election.
The Myanmar regime has rejected criticism of the polls, insisting that it aims to "restore a democracy with multiple parties".
"The election is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of this country. It is not being held for the international community," a junta spokesman told a news conference last week.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are rejecting "the path to democracy".