Conflict-ravaged Myanmar Goes to the Polls in Widely Criticised Political Theater.

Myanmar is going to the polls in a vote broadly rejected as a farce, with major political parties banned, numerous figures imprisoned and as much as half of the country unable to participate because of an continuing internal conflict.

A Phased Ballot Amid Conflict

The military government is conducting a phased ballot nearly five years after it took control in a coup, which ignited widespread opposition and spiralled into a devastating conflict.

Observers say the military regime, with backing from Beijing, is seeking to legitimise and entrench its power as it looks for a way out of the devastating stalemate.

"There are no conditions for the exercise of the rights of freedom of expression, assembly or peaceful protest," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk said.

Over two hundred people have been prosecuted for interfering with or criticising the polls under a recently enacted legislation which carries severe punishments, including the death penalty.

Film director Mike Tee, performer Kyaw Win Htut and comedian Ohn Daing were among the prominent figures convicted under the law, which was enacted in July. They were each handed a seven-year jail term after criticising a promotional video endorsing the elections.

Immense Challenges and Pressure

Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk noted in a statement, pointing out that armed rebel groups have issued their own threats urging people to boycott the polls.

The army has been engaged on multiple battlefields, against both pro-democracy fighters who reject the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own forces. It lost control of vast areas of the country in a series of major setbacks, but regained territory this year following relentless airstrikes enabled by support from Beijing and Moscow.

All of this and the fact that large parts of the country are still under rebel administration presents a massive operational hurdle for conducting an election.

A Limited Vote

The ballot is set to take place in three phases over the next month in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the rest deemed too unstable. Results are expected around the end of January.

There is unlikely to be any voting in as much as one half of the country. Even in the townships that are voting, not all constituencies will go to the polls, making it difficult to predict a possible turnout.

A handful of parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while dozens more parties and independent candidates will compete only at the state or regional levels.

Approximately forty groups, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which scored decisive wins in 2015 and 2020, have been banned. Suu Kyi and many of the party's senior figures have been jailed under charges widely condemned as fabricated, while others are in exile.

Criticism and Rejection

"By splitting the vote into phases, the authorities can change their approach if the results in the first phase do not go their way," noted Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts.

Nations in the West, including the UK and the EU legislature, have dismissed the vote as a sham, while regional bloc Asean has urged negotiations to precede any election.

The Myanmar regime has rejected condemnation of the polls, insisting that it aims to "restore a democracy with multiple parties".

"This vote is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of this country. It is not intended for the outside world," a junta spokesman stated at a news conference last week.

Military leader Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who refuse to vote are rejecting "progress toward democracy".