The junta in Myanmar, which snatched power through a coup in 2021 and now calls itself the State Security and Peace Commission, is about to conduct a heavily stage-managed, geographically restricted and politically stunted “election”. The first phase will take place on Sunday, the second phase on January 11 and potentially a third phase on a yet unannounced date.
According todata collated by the Asian Network for Free Elections, only 99 out of the country’s 330 townships – the country’s basic administrative unit – are slated to vote in full. Ninety three others will likely post a partial ballot. Ten townships are expected to vote only the areas that are controlled by the military and not in the tracts controlled by the resistance. The military regime has entirely cancelled voting in 56 townships.
Geographically, most of the polling is slated to take place in the central part of the Bamar heartland, the Irrawaddy deltaic region, Yangon region, parts of the eastern ethnic states bordering Thailand, parts of northern Kachin State bordering China and India, and a few patches across the southeasternmost coastal regions.
Large parts of the country remain under resistance control, negating the possibility of any campaigning or polling.
What ‘election’?By no standard can such a territorially constricted election...
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