Myanmar hold first election since 2021 military coup
· UPIDec. 28 (UPI) -- Citizens in Myanmar have started voting in an election for the first time in the five since that country's military coup, but many are calling the contest "fake" and "not for the people."
The election, planned for three stages -- starting with Sunday's vote in some areas of the country -- comes as civil war in the country has continued unabated since the ruling military junta took power in 2021.
Critics of the war and the election have said that the purpose is to reinforce the junta's control over areas of the country where it has solidified its rule, at least partially because the main opposition party has been barred from participating and only people living in areas controlled by the junta will be permitted to vote, the New York Times reported.
Although just a handful of countries support the junta, China and Russia among them, the military rulers hope that the election will stabilize the country and increase its ability to interact with the international community, NPR reported.
The Times reported that the United States, India and Cambodia may consider resuming business with the south Asian country as a result of holding an election -- the Trump administration referred to the "free and fair elections" as "notable progress" since the coup there.
"The election is being conducted for the people of Myanmar, not for the international community," military junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said, according to The Guardian. "Whether the international community is satisfied or not, is irrelevant."
Over the course of nearly five years, military leaders jailed thousands of people who opposed the coup and junta, bombed civilian areas while claiming territory and left millions of people in the country displaced and facing food insecurity.
The election has been spread across three days -- Dec. 28, Jan. 11 and Jan. 25 -- for portions of roughly Myanmar half of the country that the junta has control of.
There are 57 people on Sunday's ballot, most of whom are thought to be linked to or controlled by the military, and just six parties are running nationwide, with a military-backed party running mostly unopposed in many areas.
Overall, 65 of the country's 330 townships have already seen their elections canceled because of the civil war and others are expected to be canceled as well because the military has been stretched thin amid fighting that intensified in some places recently, Al-Jazeera reported.
"The military is deploying troops and burning villages under the guise of 'territorial dominance,'" a Myanmar based journalist named Esther J told Al-Jazeera. The journalist noted, however, that "we having seen a single activity related to the election. No one is campaigning, organizing or telling people to vote."
The military also introduced a law to ban "interference" in the elections and has detained dozens of people who have been critical of or questioned the election.
"Is there anyone who believes that there will be free and fair elections in Myanmar?" United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said at a summit of Asian countries in October.
"It is quite obvious that in the present state of conflict and taking into account the records of human rights of the military junta ... that the conditions for free and fair elections are not there."
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