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

The nation is holding an election in a electoral process broadly rejected as a farce, with major political parties banned, many of their leaders imprisoned and a significant portion of the country unable to participate because of an ongoing civil war.

A Phased Ballot Amid Conflict

The ruling junta is conducting a staggered election nearly half a decade after it took control in a coup, which sparked widespread opposition and spiralled into a civil war.

Analysts note the military regime, with China's support, is attempting to validate and consolidate its power as it looks for a way out of the devastating stalemate.

"There are no conditions for the practice of the rights of free speech, assembly or peaceful protest," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said.

Over two hundred people have been charged for interfering with or criticising the polls under a recently enacted legislation which carries severe punishments, including the possibility of execution.

Director Mike Tee, performer Kyaw Win Htut and comedian Ohn Daing were among the prominent figures convicted under the law, which was enacted in July. They were each given a seven-year jail term after speaking out against a promotional video promoting the elections.

Immense Challenges and Pressure

Civilians are "facing pressure from all sides," Mr Türk said in a comment, adding that armed rebel groups have issued their own threats asking people to shun the polls.

The army has been engaged on multiple battlefields, against both pro-democracy fighters who reject the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own militias. It lost control of large parts of the country in a series of major setbacks, but regained territory this year following sustained aerial bombardment enabled by support from Beijing and Moscow.

All of this and the fact that significant regions of the country are still under opposition control presents a massive logistical challenge for conducting an election.

A Limited Vote

Voting 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 rest 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 forecast a possible turnout.

Six parties, including the junta-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while another 51 parties and independent candidates 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 dissolved. Suu Kyi and many of the party's key leaders have been imprisoned under charges widely condemned as politically motivated, while others are in hiding abroad.

International Condemnation

"By splitting the vote into phases, the authorities can change their approach if the outcomes in the first phase do not go their way," noted Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the watchdog group Spring Sprouts.

Nations in the West, including the United Kingdom and the EU legislature, have rejected the vote as a pretence, while neighbouring group Asean has urged negotiations to precede any election.

The Burmese junta has rejected condemnation of the polls, maintaining that it aims to "restore a multi-party democratic system".

"This vote is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of Myanmar. It is not intended for the international community," a military representative told a briefing last week.

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