Civil war-torn Myanmar’s public began casting its votes on Sunday for the initial phase of the country’s first general election in five years, which is being held under strict supervision despite the ruling junta touting it as a ‘return to democracy’.
In Yangon, the country’s largest city, Naypyitaw, the capital, and elsewhere, voters were casting their ballots at high schools, government buildings and religious buildings with armed guards stationed outside and military trucks patrolling the streets. On Saturday, election officials set up equipment and installed electronic voting machines, which are being used for the first time in Myanmar.
Meanwhile, former civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, 80, is not participating as she serves a 27-year prison term since her elected government was ousted by the army in February, 2021. Her party, the National League for Democracy, had won the 2020 election in a landslide victory but was blocked from coming to power and dissolved in 2023 after refusing to register under new military rules.
Other parties have also refused to register or declined to run under conditions they deem unfair, and opposition groups have called for a voter boycott as the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party is expected to emerge as the largest one, despite critics saying it lacks legitimacy and is only a rebranding of martial rule.
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While opposition organisations and armed resistance groups had vowed to disrupt the electoral process, no major actions were carried out.
Western diplomats, civil rights campaigners, and the UN’s right chief have condemned the phased, month-long vote, citing repression of free speech and the right to choose representatives of a nation of around 50 million.
While there will be no voting in rebel-held areas, the first of three rounds of voting in junta-controlled territory started at 6 a.m., including in the constituencies in the cities of Yangon, Mandalay and the capital, Naypyitaw.
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