War-torn Burma Votes in Widely Criticised Political Theater.
Myanmar is going to the polls in a vote widely dismissed as a farce, with key opposition groups dissolved, many of their leaders jailed and as much as half of the country unlikely to vote because of an continuing civil war.
A Phased Ballot Amid War
The ruling junta is conducting a staggered election nearly half a decade after it took control in a takeover, which sparked massive protests and escalated into a civil war.
Analysts note the junta, with China's support, is attempting to validate and consolidate its power as it seeks a way out of the devastating stalemate.
"The environment does not allow for the practice of the freedoms of free speech, assembly or peaceful protest," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said.
More than 200 people have been prosecuted for interfering with or opposing the election under a recently enacted legislation which imposes harsh penalties, including the death penalty.
Director Mike Tee, performer Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer Ohn Daing were among the prominent figures found guilty under the law, which was passed in July. They were each handed a prison sentence of seven years after criticising a film endorsing the elections.
Immense Challenges and Coercion
Civilians are "facing pressure from all sides," Mr Türk noted in a statement, pointing out that resistance forces have issued their own threats urging people to boycott the polls.
The military has been fighting on multiple battlefields, against both armed resistance groups who oppose the coup, as well as ethnic armies which have their own militias. It lost control of large parts of the country in a series of major setbacks, but regained territory this year after sustained aerial bombardment made possible through support from Beijing and Moscow.
All of this and the fact that large parts of the country are still under opposition control presents a huge operational hurdle for conducting an election.
A Limited Vote
The ballot 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 remainder 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 hold elections, making it difficult to forecast 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 local levels.
Approximately forty groups, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which achieved landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been dissolved. Suu Kyi and many of the party's key leaders have been jailed under charges widely condemned as politically motivated, while others are in hiding abroad.
International Condemnation
"Through dividing the vote into phases, the authorities can change their approach 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 UK and the EU legislature, have rejected the vote as a pretence, while neighbouring group Asean has urged political dialogue to come before any election.
The Myanmar regime has rejected criticism of the polls, insisting that it aims to "return [the country] to a democracy with multiple parties".
"This vote is being held for Myanmar. It is being held for the people of this country. It is not intended for the outside world," a military representative stated at a news conference last week.
Military leader Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who refuse to vote are rejecting "the path to democracy".