Polls open in second phase of Myanmar’s junta-run election, dismissed as a sham by democracy advocates and rights experts
KAWHMU: Polls opened on Sunday for the second phase of Myanmar’s junta-run election, a process democracy watchdogs say is designed to let the military prolong its rule under a civilian guise.
The armed forces have ruled Myanmar for most of its post-independence history, with a brief decade-long democratic thaw ending in a 2021 coup.
The military seized power, voided the 2020 election results, detained democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and plunged the country into civil war.
AFP journalists saw polls open at 6:00 am in Suu Kyi’s former constituency of Kawhmu, south of Yangon.
After five years of ruling by force, the junta has pledged the three-phase election concluding on January 25 will return power to the people.
The military’s proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, won nearly 90% of lower house seats in the first phase late last month.
With Suu Kyi’s party dissolved, democracy advocates say the vote is rigged by a ballot stacked with military allies and a crackdown on dissent.
“I think the results lie only in the mouth of the military,” said one 50-year-old Yangon resident, speaking anonymously for security reasons.
Polling is not taking place in large rebel-held enclaves, where the military accused factions of staging attacks during the first election weekend, killing five people.
Analysts say the junta is staging the election to launder its image to improve diplomatic relations and foreign investment.
“The junta engineered the polls to ensure victory for its proxy, entrench military domination in Myanmar, and manufacture a facade of legitimacy,” UN rights expert Tom Andrews said.
The first phase had a turnout of around 50%, far below the roughly 70% who voted in the 2020 election.
“The people have very little interest in this election,” said the Yangon resident, adding it had “absolutely nothing to do with escaping this suffering.”
The military justified its 2021 coup with unfounded allegations of massive voter fraud in the 2020 polls.
Parties that won 90% of seats in 2020, including Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, are not on the ballot after being dissolved.
Regardless of the vote, a quarter of parliamentary seats will be reserved for the armed forces under the military-drafted constitution.
Meanwhile, more than 330 people are being pursued under junta laws punishing protest or criticism of the poll with up to a decade in prison.
More than 22,000 political prisoners are languishing in junta jails, according to an advocacy group.
Voting has been cancelled in dozens of lower house constituencies, many in rebel-held regions beyond the junta’s reach.
A monitoring group estimates that 90,000 people have been killed on all sides in Myanmar’s civil war.
