Myanmar’s USDP wins 90% of announced lower house seats in the first phase of a junta-run election condemned as a sham by rights advocates.
YANGON: Myanmar’s pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has won a decisive majority in the first phase of a junta-run election.
Official results published in state media show the USDP secured 87 of the 96 lower house seats announced so far, representing 90% of the declared results.
Six ethnic minority parties won the remaining nine seats in this initial phase.
The military, which seized power in a 2021 coup, opened the phased month-long election a week ago, pledging it would bring democracy.
Rights advocates and Western diplomats have condemned the poll as a sham and a rebranding of martial rule.
The massively popular National League for Democracy (NLD) of Aung San Suu Kyi did not appear on ballots, with Suu Kyi jailed since the coup.
The military overturned the results of the last election in 2020 after the NLD defeated the USDP by a landslide.
Military and USDP claims of massive voter fraud in that poll were dismissed as unfounded by international monitors.
The USDP also won 14 of the 15 regional and state constituency seats announced in the first phase.
The junta claims turnout in this phase exceeded 50% of eligible voters, below the 2020 participation rate of around 70%.
Winners for six more townships in the first phase are yet to be announced.
Two more phases of voting are scheduled for January 11 and 25.
