Myanmar’s Pro-Military Party Has Claimed A Huge Lead In A "Sham" Election Held By The Military
Opposition parties have been excluded from the ballot, and people living in 65 rebel-held areas will not be allowed to participate, leaving at least 20% of Myanmar unable to vote.
Myanmar’s pro-military party has claimed a massive lead in the first phase of elections held by the ruling military junta that has been widely labeled as a sham election to legitimize the military rule as it continues to kill civilians.
The elections are the first in the country since the military seized power in a coup in 2021 and are being held during a civil war.
The military junta has been in a brutal civil war with armed resistance groups over control of the country after it seized power in a coup in 2021.
The junta had accused the country’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party of fraud in the election in November 2020 and arrested her and President Win Myint.
After the coup, it declared a state of emergency, promising new elections “without fail” by August 2023 but continued to extend the state of emergency and delay elections while fighting the resistance groups.
In 2023, the junta enacted a new law that makes it harder for parties to register for the election, banning people who had been convicted of a crime — including Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint — from participating, as well as changing the electoral system.
This led 40 parties, including the National League for Democracy, to disband because they did not want to swear allegiance to the regime.
The move was seen as a way to “clear the field” for the Union Solidarity Development Party, which is backed by the military and did not receive many votes in previous elections, according to the New York Times.
In March 2025, despite the ongoing civil war, the junta finally announced a plan for new elections, setting a date for December 2025 or January 2026, and later confirmed it would conduct voting in three phases.
More than 4,800 candidates from 57 parties are running for seats in national and local legislatures, but the majority are seen as military allies with the Union Solidarity and Development party running uncontested in dozens of constitutencies, according to the Guardian.
Opposition parties have been excluded from the ballot, and people living in 65 rebel-held areas will not be allowed to participate, leaving at least 20% of Myanmar unable to vote, according to Al Jazeera.
The military has also made it illegal to criticize the elections, arresting at least 229 people under a new law that makes it a crime to speak out against the elections.
Phase one began on Sunday, Dec. 28, with people in 102 townships voting for the first time in nearly five years.
Voters in 163 townships are expected to cast their ballots on Jan. 11 and Jan. 25 during the second and third phases.
The UN human rights chief has said the elections were being held in an environment of “violence and repression”, and rights groups say the elections are being used to legitimize the military’s control.
Meanwhile, Myanmar’s chief general has promised the elections were “free and fair”.
International officials from Russia, China, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Vietnam, Nicaragua and India have arrived in Cambodia to observe the elections.
Despite the election, the military has continued to attack its own civilians, bombing hospitals and other civilian infrastructure.
The violence, which has continued to escalate, has displaced more than 3.2 million people, with about 40% of them being children, according to UNICEF.
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Isha Jain
Kassy Cho
Isha Jain
