Voting booths opened across Myanmar on Sunday for the concluding phase of a nationwide election taking place amid ongoing conflict, with a party backed by the armed forces widely expected to secure control. The process, which has drawn heavy criticism, is also likely to usher the junta leader into a formal political position.
Earlier rounds of voting, conducted on 28 December and 11 January, saw participation hover at about 55%, a sharp drop from the roughly 70% turnout recorded in the general elections of 2015 and 2020, reports Reuters.
Balloting is being held in 60 townships, including the key urban centres of Yangon and Mandalay. The election is unfolding against the backdrop of a civil war that erupted after the military seized power.
International bodies including the United Nations, along with several Western governments and human rights organisations, have dismissed the polls as lacking credibility and aimed at entrenching military rule. Despite this, the junta has pledged to hand authority to a new administration, potentially by April.
Myanmar’s armed forces took over the country in a pre-dawn coup on 1 February, 2021, removing the elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Now 80, she remains imprisoned.
Her National League for Democracy, along with other opposition groups, has been disbanded, leaving the political landscape tilted heavily toward the military-supported party currently leading the vote count.
Malaysia, which chaired the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations last year, announced on Tuesday that the bloc had turned down Myanmar’s invitation to observe the election and would not lend it support.
“Rather than resolving a crisis now in its fifth year, the vote is more likely to reinforce the military’s hold on power, with little prospect of restoring domestic legitimacy or improving the country’s standing with Western partners,” said Kaho Yu, Principal Asia Analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.
Hostilities have persisted throughout the campaign and earlier voting periods, with clashes reported in many regions. Air strikes have also been carried out near civilian areas, particularly in the border states of Rakhine, Shan and Kayin.
