Conflict-ravaged Myanmar Goes to the Polls in Widely Criticised Political Theater.

The nation is holding an election in a electoral process broadly rejected as a sham, with major political parties dissolved, many of their leaders imprisoned and a significant portion of the country unable to participate because of an ongoing civil war.

A Staggered Vote Amid Conflict

The ruling junta is holding a staggered election nearly five years after it seized power in a takeover, which ignited widespread opposition and spiralled into a devastating conflict.

Observers say the junta, with China's support, is seeking to legitimise and entrench its power as it looks for a way out of the devastating deadlock.

"The environment does not allow for the exercise of the freedoms of freedom of expression, association or peaceful protest," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said.

Over two hundred people have been prosecuted for disrupting or criticising the polls under a recently enacted legislation which imposes severe punishments, including the death penalty.

Director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and comedian Ohn Daing were among the well-known individuals convicted under the law, which was enacted in July. They were each handed a prison sentence of seven years after criticising a promotional video endorsing the elections.

Immense Challenges and Coercion

Civilians are "facing pressure from all sides," Mr Türk said in a comment, adding that armed rebel groups have issued their own threats asking people to boycott the polls.

The military has been fighting on several fronts, against both armed resistance groups who oppose the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own militias. It lost control of vast areas of the country in a series of major setbacks, but clawed back territory this year following relentless airstrikes made possible through support from Beijing and Moscow.

All of this and the fact that significant regions of the country are still under opposition control presents a huge logistical challenge for conducting an election.

A Restricted Poll

Voting is set to take place in three rounds over the next month in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's 330 townships, with the remainder deemed too unstable. Results are expected by late January.

There is unlikely to be any voting in as much as one half of the country. Even in the townships that are voting, not all constituencies will hold elections, making it difficult to forecast a likely turnout.

Six parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while another 51 parties and independent candidates will contest only at the local levels.

Some 40 parties, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which scored landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been banned. Suu Kyi and a number of the party's senior figures have been jailed under charges broadly viewed as fabricated, while others are in hiding abroad.

Criticism and Rejection

"By splitting the vote into phases, the authorities can adjust tactics if the results in the first phase do not go their way," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a representative of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts.

Western governments, including the United Kingdom and the European Parliament, have rejected the vote as a sham, while regional bloc Asean has called for political dialogue to precede any election.

The Burmese junta has dismissed condemnation of the polls, insisting that it aims to "restore a multi-party democratic system".

"The election is being held for Myanmar. It is being held for the people of Myanmar. It is not being held for the international community," a junta spokesman told a briefing last week.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are rejecting "progress toward democracy".