War-torn Myanmar Goes to the Polls in Broadly Condemned Political Theater.

The nation is holding an election in a electoral process widely dismissed as a farce, with key opposition groups dissolved, many of their leaders jailed and a significant portion of the country unable to participate because of an ongoing internal conflict.

A Phased Ballot Amid War

The ruling junta is holding a staggered election nearly half a decade after it took control in a coup, which ignited massive protests and spiralled into a civil war.

Analysts note the junta, with China's support, is seeking to legitimise and entrench its power as it seeks a way out of the costly deadlock.

"The environment does not allow for the exercise of the freedoms of free speech, assembly or peaceful assembly," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said.

More than 200 people have been charged for interfering with or criticising the polls under a recently enacted legislation which imposes severe punishments, including the possibility of execution.

Director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer Ohn Daing were among the prominent figures found guilty under the law, which was enacted in July. They were each given a seven-year jail term after speaking out against a film endorsing the elections.

Immense Challenges and Pressure

Civilians are "facing pressure from all sides," Mr Türk noted in a statement, pointing out that armed rebel groups have made warnings urging people to boycott the polls.

The army has been engaged on multiple battlefields, against both pro-democracy fighters who reject the coup, as well as ethnic armies which have their own forces. It ceded territory of large parts of the country in a series of major setbacks, but clawed back territory this year following relentless airstrikes made possible through support from China and Russia.

All of this and the fact that large parts of the country are still under opposition control presents a massive operational hurdle for conducting an election.

A Limited Vote

Voting is set to take place in three rounds over the next month in 274 of the country's 330 townships, with the remainder deemed too unstable. Outcomes are expected by late January.

There is not expected to be any voting in up to fifty percent of the country. Even in the townships that are voting, not all constituencies will hold elections, making it difficult to forecast a likely turnout.

A handful of parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while dozens more parties and non-aligned contenders will contest only at the state or regional levels.

Approximately forty groups, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which achieved landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been banned. Suu Kyi and many of the party's key leaders have been jailed under charges widely condemned as fabricated, while the rest are in exile.

International Condemnation

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

Western governments, including the United Kingdom and the European Parliament, have rejected the vote as a pretence, while regional bloc Asean has called for negotiations to come before any election.

The Myanmar regime has rejected condemnation of the polls, maintaining that it aims to "restore a democracy with multiple parties".

"The election is being held for Myanmar. It is being held for the citizens of this country. It is not intended for the outside world," a junta spokesman told a news conference last week.

Military leader Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are rejecting "the path to democracy".