YANGON: Parties approved for Myanmar’s military-organised elections are starting their campaigns two months ahead of a poll widely rejected domestically and internationally as an attempt to legitimise military rule.
Myanmar has been engulfed in civil war since the military seized power in a 2021 coup that deposed and imprisoned democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi after her party’s landslide victory in the previous election.
The junta has lost significant territory to pro-democracy guerrillas and ethnic-minority armed groups but promotes elections as a reconciliation pathway.
Rebel forces controlling large areas have pledged to boycott the vote while human rights organisations and a UN expert condemn restrictive conditions in military-held zones.
“This election means nothing to me,” said a 60-year-old Sittwe resident who requested anonymity for security reasons in conflict-affected Rakhine state.
He described the election as illegitimate and unsupported by people struggling with starvation and unemployment in a worsening humanitarian crisis.
Fifty-seven parties will appear on ballots when phased voting begins on December 28.
Suu Kyi’s immensely popular National League for Democracy won 82% of elected seats in 2020 but won’t participate after the junta dissolved the party following her imprisonment and unsubstantiated voter fraud allegations.
An AFP journalist observed locked gates at the deserted NLD headquarters in Yangon with no visible campaigning in downtown areas on Tuesday morning.
The pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party launched its campaign with election billboards in the capital Naypyidaw where most constituencies will vote in the first phase.
Several thousand USDP members and supporters attended the campaign kick-off event including sanctioned ministers Mya Tun Oo and Tin Aung San.
Campaigning is expected to remain low-profile with heavy security due to ongoing civil conflict.
A civilian displaced to Mandalay expressed disinterest in voting while emphasising his primary concern was returning home safely.
Approximately 300 USDP supporters gathered at the party’s Yangon office under heavy police and military patrols according to AFP observations.
USDP Yangon chairman Khin Maung Soe confirmed campaigning would occur only in designated secure areas without street parades.
The junta acknowledges elections won’t occur in one-seventh of national parliament constituencies primarily in active war zones with martial law enforced in one-fifth of townships.
New laws impose ten-year prison sentences for election protests while cybercrime legislation targets online communications deemed disruptive to unity.
ASEAN will not send election observers to Myanmar according to diplomatic sources speaking to AFP on Monday.
Rights groups successfully lobbied the regional bloc to withhold monitors to avoid legitimising what they describe as neither free nor fair elections. – AFP
