Myanmar’s military junta will allow foreign media to cover its upcoming election, but journalists remain skeptical amid widespread censorship and intimidation.
YANGON: Myanmar’s election authorities have announced international media will be permitted to cover the military junta’s upcoming polls.
The Union Election Commission stated “both local and international news media will be allowed to cover” the election scheduled to begin December 28.
The junta-run information ministry “will scrutinise and endorse eligible international media organisations” according to a notice in state newspaper The Global New Light of Myanmar.
This invitation comes as the military government faces widespread criticism over the legitimacy of the planned vote.
Reporters Without Borders says Myanmar’s junta has “shattered the media landscape” with censorship and intimidation since the 2021 coup.
Local journalists have borne the brunt of the crackdown while most foreign media left the country, with AFP remaining as the only international news agency with a full in-country bureau.
The military government has promoted the polls as a path to peace, but the vote will be blocked from rebel-held areas.
Many observers dismiss the election as an attempt to disguise continuing military rule.
One senior journalist working for an independent Myanmar outlet told AFP “the invitation is just a part of the process of their claim that they are holding a free and fair election”.
“We won’t take any risk dealing with them,” he added. “It is not possible to cover independently.”
Myanmar’s media flourished during its decade-long democratic thaw before the military retook power.
Since the coup, many outlets have shut down, moved to rebel-held areas, or operate secretly or from exile in neighbouring Thailand.
The Committee to Protect Journalists ranked Myanmar third among the world’s leading jailers of journalists in 2024.
Rights groups say the election cannot be legitimate with democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi jailed and her popular National League for Democracy party dissolved.
Protesting against the poll carries a penalty of up to ten years in prison.
Diplomatic sources told AFP the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will not send election observers for the vote.
Numerous rights groups lobbied the 11-nation bloc to withhold monitors to avoid lending legitimacy to what they call an unfree and unfair election. – AFP
