Conflict-ravaged Burma Goes to the Polls in Broadly Condemned Political Theater.

The nation is holding an election in a electoral process widely dismissed as a farce, with key opposition groups banned, many of their leaders jailed and a significant portion of the country unable to participate because of an ongoing internal conflict.

A Phased Ballot Amid Conflict

The ruling junta is conducting a phased ballot nearly half a decade after it took control in a coup, which sparked massive protests and escalated into a devastating conflict.

Analysts note the junta, with China's support, is attempting to validate and entrench its power as it seeks a way out of the devastating stalemate.

"The environment does not allow for the practice of the rights of free speech, association or peaceful assembly," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said.

More than 200 people have been charged for interfering with or criticising the election under a recently enacted legislation which imposes severe punishments, including the possibility of execution.

Director Mike Tee, performer Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer Ohn Daing were among the prominent figures convicted under the law, which was passed in July. They were each handed a prison sentence of seven years after criticising a film promoting the elections.

Logistical Nightmare and Pressure

Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk said in a statement, adding that armed rebel groups have made warnings asking people to boycott the polls.

The army has been fighting 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 series of major setbacks, but regained territory this year after sustained aerial bombardment made possible through support from Beijing and Moscow.

All of this and the fact that large parts of the country are still under opposition control presents a massive logistical challenge for holding an election.

A Restricted Poll

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 not secure enough. Results are expected around the end of January.

There is unlikely to be any voting in up to fifty percent of the country. Even in the townships that are voting, some districts will hold elections, making it difficult to predict a likely turnout.

A handful of parties, including the junta-supported Union Solidarity and Development Party, are fielding candidates nationwide, while another 51 parties and independent candidates will compete only at the local levels.

Approximately forty groups, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which achieved landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been dissolved. Suu Kyi and a number of the party's senior figures have been jailed under charges broadly viewed as fabricated, while others are in hiding abroad.

International Condemnation

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

Western governments, including the United Kingdom and the European Parliament, have rejected the vote as a sham, while regional bloc Asean has called for political dialogue to come before any election.

The Myanmar regime has dismissed criticism of the polls, maintaining that it aims to "return [the country] to a multi-party democratic system".

"The election is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of this country. It is not being held for the outside world," a junta spokesman told a news conference last week.

Military leader Min Aung Hlaing warned earlier this week that those who refuse to vote are turning their back on "the path to democracy".