Myanmar junta cancels more Kachin voting amid clashes

Myanmar’s military regime has cancelled voting in further parts of Kachin State after fierce clashes with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), underscoring the fragile security situation just days before the final round of polling.

The Union Election Commission, appointed by the junta, announced on Tuesday that elections will not take place in Mansi and Momauk townships, nor in 11 village‑tracts of Bhamo. The cancellations reduce the number of townships participating in the third phase of voting from 63 to 61.

The decision affects four seats—two in the Lower House and two in the Kachin State parliament. In Mansi, the military‑backed Union Solidarity and Development Party had already seen its candidate, Kwan Hsan, declared the winner. His name has now been struck from the list after the annulment.

Bhamo, Kachin’s second‑largest township, has been at the centre of fighting for months. Artillery exchanges and drone strikes between junta forces and the KIA have left much of the town deserted. According to demographic data, Bhamo comprises 16 wards and 71 villages, but voting will now be confined to just three wards and a handful of villages on the outskirts.

Originally, five Kachin townships were due to take part in this phase of polling. Only Shwegu and Hpakant, both far from the current front lines, are expected to proceed, though even there several wards and villages have been excluded for security reasons.

The phased voting system itself reflects the junta’s inability to secure nationwide control—a reality acknowledged by junta chief Min Aung Hlaing. With the latest cancellations, elections will be held in 263 of Myanmar’s 330 townships, leaving 67 without polling, the highest number of excluded areas in the country’s electoral history.

International reaction has been scathing. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Western governments, the European Union, the United Nations and global election‑monitoring groups have all refused to recognise the process, dismissing it as a sham designed to entrench military rule rather than restore democracy.

For residents of Kachin, the cancellations confirm what many already feared: that the vote will take place in ghost towns, with large swathes of the population displaced by conflict and little prospect of meaningful representation.

-2026-01-22