Polling stations in Myanmar opened on Sunday (Jan 25) for the final round of a general election in the war-torn country, with a military-backed party set to win and the junta chief expected to take on a political role after the widely criticised election.
The previous two phases of the election – held on Dec 28 and Jan 11 – have been marked by low voter turnout of around 55 per cent, well below the turnout of about 70 per cent recorded in Myanmar’s 2020 and 2015 general elections.
Voters in 60 townships will cast their ballots, including in the major cities of Yangon and Mandalay, amid a civil war triggered by a coup that brought the military to power.
Although the United Nations, some Western governments and rights groups have derided the polls as a sham exercise to perpetuate the military’s hold, the ruling junta has vowed it will transfer power to a new government, likely in April.
The military took control of the impoverished Southeast Asian nation in a dawn coup on Feb 1, 2021, ousting an elected civilian government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
The 80-year-old politician remains in detention and, like several other opposition groups, her National League for Democracy has been dissolved by the junta, tilting the political playing field in favour of the military-backed party that is leading the polls.
Malaysia, which last year chaired the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, on Tuesday said the bloc had rejected an offer from Myanmar to send poll observers and would not endorse the election.
“Rather than resolving a crisis now in its fifth year, the vote is more likely to reinforce the military’s hold on power, with little prospect of restoring domestic legitimacy or improving the country’s standing with Western partners,” said Kaho Yu, Principal Asia Analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.
Fighting has continued through the election campaign and earlier voting in many parts of Myanmar, including air strikes around civilian areas in the border states of Rakhine, Shan and Kayin.