Myanmar Sets December 28 Election Amid Boycott and Civil War

[geovalin]

ASEAN archives

 

Myanmar’s military government has announced that long-delayed general elections will begin on 28 December, despite widespread scepticism over their legitimacy and the country’s ongoing civil conflict.

 

The Union Election Commission confirmed the vote will be held in phases, with further dates to be announced. According to state media, 55 political parties have registered, though only nine will contest seats nationwide. The announcement follows last month’s partial lifting of emergency rule, imposed after the 2021 coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government.

 

Led by General Min Aung Hlaing, the junta claims the elections will restore democratic order. However, opposition groups—including Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy—have vowed to boycott the polls, branding them a façade to entrench military rule. Suu Kyi remains imprisoned, along with many of her party’s senior figures.

 

Myanmar has been gripped by civil war since the coup, with large areas under the control of armed resistance groups such as the People’s Defence Force, the Arakan Army, and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army. The military’s ability to conduct voting in these regions remains uncertain.

 

The last election, held in November 2020, saw Suu Kyi’s party win in a landslide. The military later claimed fraud—allegations dismissed by international observers including the Carter Center and the Asian Network for Free Elections.

 

As Myanmar prepares for its first vote in five years, critics warn that without genuine participation and media freedom, the process risks deepening the country’s political crisis rather than resolving it.

 

 

-2025-08-19