Conflict-ravaged Myanmar Votes in Broadly Condemned Political Theater.
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 unable to participate because of an continuing civil war.
A Phased Ballot Amid Conflict
The military government is holding a phased ballot nearly five years after it took control in a coup, which ignited widespread opposition and escalated into a devastating conflict.
Observers say the junta, with backing from Beijing, is seeking to legitimise and entrench its power as it looks for a way out of the devastating deadlock.
"The environment does not allow for the exercise of the freedoms of free speech, assembly or peaceful protest," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stated.
More than 200 people have been charged for interfering with or opposing the polls under a recently enacted legislation which carries severe punishments, including the death penalty.
Director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and comedian Ohn Daing were among the well-known individuals convicted under the law, which was enacted in July. They were each handed a seven-year jail term after speaking out against a promotional video promoting the elections.
Logistical Nightmare and Pressure
Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk said in a statement, adding that armed rebel groups have made warnings urging people to shun the polls.
The military has been fighting on multiple battlefields, against both armed resistance groups who oppose the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own forces. It ceded territory of vast areas of the country in a string of defeats, but clawed back territory this year following sustained aerial bombardment enabled by 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 holding an election.
A Limited Vote
Voting is set to take place in three phases over the coming weeks in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the rest deemed too unstable. 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 challenging to predict a likely turnout.
A handful of 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 state or regional levels.
Some 40 parties, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which scored landslide victories 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 politically motivated, while others are in hiding abroad.
International Condemnation
"Through dividing the vote into stages, the authorities can change their approach if the outcomes in the initial round do not go their way," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the watchdog group Spring Sprouts.
Nations in the West, including the UK 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 Myanmar regime has dismissed condemnation of the polls, maintaining that it aims to "restore a democracy with multiple parties".
"The election is being held for our nation. It is being held for the citizens of Myanmar. It is not being held for the international community," a military representative stated at a briefing last week.
Military leader Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are turning their back on "the path to democracy".