Conflict-ravaged Myanmar Goes to the Polls 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 imprisoned and as much as half of the country unlikely to vote because of an continuing civil war.
A Staggered Vote Amid War
The ruling junta is conducting a staggered election nearly half a decade after it took control in a coup, which ignited massive protests and spiralled into a devastating conflict.
Observers say the junta, with China's support, is attempting to validate and entrench its power as it looks for a way out of the costly stalemate.
"There are no conditions for the practice of the rights of freedom of expression, assembly or peaceful assembly," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stated.
Over two hundred people have been charged for disrupting or criticising the polls under a recently enacted legislation which carries harsh penalties, including the death penalty.
Director Mike Tee, performer Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer Ohn Daing were among the well-known individuals found guilty under the law, which was enacted in July. They were each handed a seven-year jail term after speaking out against a film endorsing the elections.
Immense Challenges and Pressure
Civilians are "facing pressure from all sides," Mr Türk said in a statement, adding that armed rebel groups have made warnings urging people to boycott the polls.
The army has been fighting on several fronts, against both armed resistance groups who oppose the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own forces. It lost control of vast areas 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 rebel administration presents a massive logistical challenge for conducting 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 330 townships, with the remainder deemed too unstable. Outcomes are expected by late January.
There is unlikely 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 military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while another 51 parties and independent candidates will compete 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 banned. Suu Kyi and many of the party's senior figures have been imprisoned under charges broadly viewed as fabricated, while others are in exile.
International Condemnation
"Through dividing the vote into phases, the authorities can adjust tactics if the results in the first phase do not go their way," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts.
Western governments, including the UK and the EU legislature, have dismissed the vote as a sham, while neighbouring group Asean has urged negotiations to come before any election.
The Burmese junta has dismissed criticism 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 being held for the international community," a junta spokesman told a news conference last week.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are rejecting "progress toward democracy".