Myanmar's ruling military junta has opened polling stations for a national election it claims will pave a path to peace, a move swiftly dismissed by the United Nations and human rights groups as a "sham" vote designed to cement its illegitimate power.
A Vote Without Opposition
Nearly five years after seizing control in a violent coup, the junta is staging an election with no genuine opposition. The National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of the imprisoned former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, has been dissolved and barred from participating. Should it have been allowed to run, analysts believe it would have won decisively.
The ballot offers multiple parties, but the only one with any real prospect of victory is the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). Its close alignment with the ruling generals makes it the winner in waiting. The junta has permitted rare media access to parts of the country, presenting the election as a return to civilian rule for the first time since 2021.
Fear, Conflict and Condemnation
On the streets of Yangon, the public mood is one of palpable fear. While USDP candidate San San Htay campaigned in markets, handing out flyers and speaking of voter support, ordinary citizens were far more circumspect. "People are scared, that's why they don’t speak up, because of the government," one woman told Sky News.
This climate of intimidation extends far beyond the polling stations. The country remains engulfed in a brutal civil war triggered by the coup, with the junta fighting a coalition of ethnic armed groups and civilian resistance forces. Tens of thousands have died, and the conflict has rendered large parts of the nation unable to vote.
Commander Tin Oo of the People's Defence Force, a civilian resistance group, accused the military of intentionally bombing civilian areas ahead of the poll. "They’re trying to intimidate and terrify the people," he said via video call, alleging the attacks were partly to secure election zones.
International Rejection and a Bleak Future
The international community has roundly condemned the electoral process. Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights for Myanmar, dismissed the multi-stage polls as "sham elections." His assessment is shared by numerous governments and NGOs, who view the vote as a thin veneer for continued military dictatorship.
Despite the junta's claims that the election, with results due by the end of January, will bring stability, those fighting the regime hold little hope. "Nothing will change after this sham election," Commander Tin Oo stated bleakly. "The fighting will carry on."
With Aung San Suu Kyi and thousands of other political prisoners still detained, and the nation fractured by war, the election is seen by critics not as a democratic exercise, but as a calculated attempt to lend a false air of legitimacy to an oppressive regime.
