War-torn Burma Goes to the Polls in Widely Criticised 'Sham' Election.
The nation is holding an election in a electoral process widely dismissed as a sham, with key opposition groups dissolved, 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 Conflict
The ruling junta is holding a staggered election nearly half a decade after it seized power in a coup, which ignited massive protests and escalated into a civil war.
Analysts note the military regime, with China's support, is seeking to legitimise and entrench its power as it seeks a way out of the costly stalemate.
"There are no conditions for the practice of the freedoms of free speech, association or peaceful assembly," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stated.
Over two hundred people have been charged for disrupting or opposing the polls under a new law which carries harsh penalties, including the death penalty.
Film director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer Ohn Daing were among the prominent figures found guilty under the law, which was enacted in July. They were each given a seven-year jail term after speaking out against a film endorsing the elections.
Logistical Nightmare and Coercion
Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk said in a statement, pointing out that armed rebel groups have issued their own threats urging people to boycott the polls.
The army has been engaged on several fronts, against both pro-democracy fighters who oppose the coup, as well as ethnic armies which have their own militias. It lost control of vast areas of the country in a series of major setbacks, but regained territory this year following 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 rebel administration presents a massive operational hurdle 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 rest deemed not secure enough. Outcomes are expected by late January.
There is not expected to be any voting in up to fifty percent of the country. Even in the townships that are voting, not all constituencies will go to the polls, making it difficult to predict a likely turnout.
A handful of parties, including the junta-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, are fielding candidates nationwide, while another 51 parties and independent candidates will contest only at the state or regional levels.
Approximately forty groups, 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 politically motivated, while others are in hiding abroad.
International Condemnation
"By splitting the vote into stages, the junta can change their approach if the outcomes in the initial round do not go their way," noted Htin Kyaw Aye, a representative of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts.
Western governments, including the UK and the EU legislature, have rejected the vote as a sham, while neighbouring group Asean has called for negotiations to come before any election.
The Burmese junta has dismissed criticism of the polls, insisting that it aims to "return [the country] to 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 being held for the international community," a military representative stated at a briefing last week.
Military leader Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are rejecting "the path to democracy".
