Myanmar Set To Hold Elections Tomorrow Amid Civil War And Humanitarian Crisis

While the military government has emphasised the election has popular backing, it has been widely criticized by the United Nations, Western governments and human rights groups as an attempt by the military to entrench its rule through political proxies.

Myanmar will head to polls on Sunday as the country continues to battle a civil war and one of Asia’s worst humanitarian crises.

The country has been facing conflict triggered by 2021 coup during which the military ousted an elected civilian government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

While the military government has emphasised the election has popular backing, it has been widely criticised by the United Nations, Western governments and human rights groups as an attempt by the military to entrench its rule through political proxies, according to Reuters.

“This time, the candidates did not really come out on the streets. I only see sign boards on the streets about them,” said a 31-year-old from Yangon, who asked not to be named because of security concerns.

“I am someone who goes out the whole day, but I don’t see any candidates campaigning even for USDP and for smaller parties,” he added, referring to the military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party.

The Sunday’s voting in 102 townships will be the first phase, two more will be held on January 11 (100 townships) and January 25 (63), covering areas across 265 of Myanmar’s 330 townships.

Dates for counting votes and announcing the results have not been declared.

The last elections were held in 2020, subdued by COVID-19 restrictions. A decade ago, when Myanmar held its second election since the end of five decades of military rule in 2011, streets were awash with sign boards and flags in the signature red of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), creating a carnival-like atmosphere, Reuters reported.

With Suu Kyi’s party banned this time and a quarter of parliamentary seats constitutionally reserved for the military, the outcome appears pre-determined, real power is expected to remain with the generals.

The United Nations and several other nations have already dismissed the exercise as a facade. State media in Myanmar have claimed that India has extended support to the election process, a sensitive point given the direct spillover of Myanmar’s instability into India’s northeast.

According to Reuters, Myanmar’s humanitarian crisis is one of the most severe in Asia, driven by the intensifying civil war and repeated natural disasters, including a massive earthquake in March.