War-torn Burma Votes in Broadly Condemned 'Sham' Election.

Myanmar is going to the polls in a electoral process broadly rejected as a farce, with key opposition groups banned, numerous figures jailed and a significant portion of the country unlikely to vote because of an ongoing internal conflict.

A Staggered Vote Amid War

The ruling junta is holding a phased ballot nearly five years after it took control in a takeover, which sparked massive protests and escalated into a civil war.

Observers say the junta, with China's support, is attempting to validate and consolidate its power as it looks for a way out of the devastating stalemate.

"The environment does not allow for the practice of the rights of free speech, assembly or peaceful assembly," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk stated.

More than 200 people have been charged for disrupting or criticising the polls under a recently enacted legislation which imposes harsh penalties, including the possibility of execution.

Director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and comedian Ohn Daing were among the well-known individuals found guilty under the law, which was passed in July. They were each given a seven-year jail term after criticising a film endorsing the elections.

Logistical Nightmare and Coercion

Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk said in a statement, pointing out that resistance forces have issued their own threats asking people to boycott the polls.

The military has been engaged on several fronts, against both pro-democracy fighters who reject the coup, as well as ethnic armies which have their own militias. It lost control of vast areas of the country in a string of defeats, but regained 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 operational hurdle for holding an election.

A Limited Vote

The ballot is set to take place in three rounds over the coming weeks in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's 330 townships, with the rest deemed not secure enough. Results are expected by late January.

There is unlikely to be any voting in up to fifty percent of the country. Even in the townships that are voting, not all constituencies will go to the polls, making it challenging to forecast a likely turnout.

A handful of parties, including the junta-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while dozens more parties and non-aligned contenders will compete only at the state or regional 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 key leaders have been imprisoned under charges widely condemned as politically motivated, while others are in hiding abroad.

International Condemnation

"Through dividing the vote into stages, the authorities can adjust tactics if the outcomes in the initial round do not go their way," noted Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts.

Nations in the West, including the United Kingdom and the EU legislature, have rejected the vote as a pretence, while regional bloc Asean has called for negotiations to precede any election.

The Burmese junta has dismissed criticism 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 Myanmar. It is not intended for the international community," a junta spokesman stated at a news conference last week.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who refuse to vote are rejecting "progress toward democracy".