Myanmar’s Poll Plan, Explained

Myanmar’s military regime will stage the first phase of its long‑delayed election on Sunday, almost five years after seizing power in a coup. The poll, announced in three stages, begins in 102 townships across the country, despite ongoing conflict in many of the areas selected.

The junta says further rounds will follow on 11 January and 25 January, covering another 163 townships. But voting will not take place in 56 townships where the military admits it lacks control, and no plans have been revealed for nine more.

Where ballots will be cast

The first phase is concentrated in Naypyitaw, Yangon, Sagaing and Shan, each with 12 townships. In Kachin State, only six of 18 townships will vote, including the capital Myitkyina, where clashes with the Kachin Independence Army continued just days before polling. Karenni State will see ballots in two townships, while Chin State will vote only in Hakha and one other.

In Rakhine, where the Arakan Army controls most of the territory, voting will take place in just three townships. Fighting also persists in northern Shan, yet elections are planned in Muse, Nawnghkio and Lashio. Sagaing and Magwe will host voting despite recent offensives by resistance forces.

Who is on the ballot

Fifty‑seven parties have registered with the junta’s election commission. The National League for Democracy, led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi until her imprisonment, has refused to participate. Six parties will contest nationwide, led by the military‑backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which has fielded more than 1,000 candidates—many of them former generals and ministers.

Other contenders include the National Unity Party, People’s Pioneer Party, People’s Party, Shan and Ethnic Democratic Party, and Myanmar Farmers’ Development Party. Later phases will see figures such as Ko Ko Gyi of the People’s Party and former NLD lawmaker Daw Sandar Min enter the race.

Why it matters

Western governments, the civilian National Unity Government and major ethnic armed groups have dismissed the election as a sham designed to legitimise military rule. The junta has criminalised dissent under its Election Protection Law, prosecuting more than 300 people since July.

Commander‑in‑chief Min Aung Hlaing has pledged to hand power to the winner by March 2026. But memories remain fresh of the last time such a promise was made—in 2020, before the military overturned the NLD’s landslide victory with a coup three months later.

-2025-12-27