Conflict-ravaged Myanmar Goes to the Polls in Broadly Condemned 'Sham' Election.

The nation is holding an election in a vote broadly rejected as a sham, with key opposition groups dissolved, many of their leaders imprisoned and a significant portion of the country unlikely to vote because of an continuing civil war.

A Staggered Vote Amid Conflict

The ruling junta is conducting a staggered election nearly five years after it took control in a takeover, which sparked widespread opposition and escalated into a devastating conflict.

Analysts note the junta, with China's support, is seeking to legitimise and entrench its power as it looks for a way out of the costly stalemate.

"There are no conditions for the exercise of the rights of free speech, association or peaceful protest," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said.

More than 200 people have been prosecuted for interfering with or criticising the election under a new law which carries harsh penalties, including the possibility of execution.

Director Mike Tee, performer Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer Ohn Daing were among the well-known individuals convicted under the law, which was passed in July. They were each handed a seven-year jail term after speaking out against a film promoting the elections.

Immense Challenges and Pressure

Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk noted in a comment, pointing out that armed rebel groups have issued their own threats asking people to boycott the polls.

The army has been fighting on multiple battlefields, against both pro-democracy fighters who reject the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own forces. It ceded territory of large parts of the country in a series of major setbacks, but regained territory this year after relentless airstrikes enabled by support from Beijing and Moscow.

All of this and the fact that large parts of the country are still under rebel administration presents a huge operational hurdle for conducting an election.

A Limited Vote

Voting is set to take place in three phases over the coming weeks in 274 of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the rest deemed not secure enough. Outcomes 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 difficult to predict a likely turnout.

A handful of parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, are fielding candidates nationwide, while another 51 parties and independent candidates will compete only at the state or regional levels.

Approximately forty groups, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which scored landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been dissolved. Suu Kyi and many of the party's key leaders have been imprisoned under charges widely condemned as fabricated, while the rest are in hiding abroad.

International Condemnation

"By splitting the vote into stages, the junta can adjust tactics if the results in the first phase do not go their way," noted Htin Kyaw Aye, a representative of the watchdog group Spring Sprouts.

Western governments, including the United Kingdom and the EU legislature, have rejected the vote as a pretence, 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".

"This vote is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of this country. It is not intended for the outside world," a junta spokesman stated at a briefing last week.

Military leader Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who refuse to vote are rejecting "the path to democracy".