War-torn Burma Votes in Broadly Condemned Political Theater.

The nation is holding an election in a vote broadly rejected as a sham, with major political parties dissolved, numerous figures imprisoned and a significant portion of the country unlikely to vote because of an continuing internal conflict.

A Staggered Vote Amid Conflict

The military government is conducting a staggered election nearly five years after it took control in a coup, which sparked massive protests and escalated into a civil war.

Observers say the junta, with backing from Beijing, is attempting to validate and consolidate its power as it looks for a way out of the costly deadlock.

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

More than 200 people have been prosecuted for disrupting or criticising the polls under a new law which imposes severe punishments, including the death penalty.

Film 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 prison sentence of seven years after criticising a promotional video promoting the elections.

Logistical Nightmare and Pressure

Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk noted in a comment, pointing out that armed rebel groups have issued their own threats urging people to shun the polls.

The military has been fighting on multiple battlefields, against both armed resistance groups who reject the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own forces. It ceded territory of large parts of the country in a string of defeats, but clawed back territory this year following sustained aerial bombardment enabled by support from Beijing and Moscow.

All of this and the fact that large parts of the country are still under rebel administration presents a huge operational hurdle for holding an election.

A Restricted Poll

The ballot 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. 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, some districts will go to the polls, making it difficult to predict a possible turnout.

A handful of parties, including the junta-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, are fielding candidates nationwide, while another 51 parties and non-aligned contenders will compete 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 a number of the party's senior figures have been imprisoned under charges widely condemned as politically motivated, while the rest are in hiding abroad.

International Condemnation

"Through dividing the vote into phases, the authorities can change their approach if the results in the first phase do not go their way," noted Htin Kyaw Aye, a representative of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts.

Nations in the West, including the UK and the EU legislature, have dismissed the vote as a pretence, while regional bloc Asean has called for political dialogue to precede any election.

The Burmese junta has dismissed condemnation of the polls, maintaining that it aims to "return [the country] to a democracy with multiple parties".

"The election is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of this country. It is not intended for the outside world," a military representative stated at a briefing last week.

Military leader Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who refuse to vote are rejecting "the path to democracy".