War-torn Myanmar Goes to the Polls in Broadly Condemned Political Theater.

The nation is holding an election in a vote broadly rejected as a farce, with key opposition groups dissolved, many of their leaders jailed and a significant portion of the country unlikely to vote because of an ongoing civil war.

A Staggered Vote Amid War

The ruling junta is conducting a staggered election nearly half a decade after it seized power in a takeover, which ignited massive protests and spiralled into a devastating conflict.

Observers say the junta, with backing from Beijing, is attempting to validate and consolidate its power as it looks for a way out of the devastating deadlock.

"There are no conditions for the practice of the freedoms of free speech, association or peaceful protest," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk said.

Over two hundred people have been charged for disrupting or opposing the polls under a recently enacted legislation which imposes harsh penalties, including the death penalty.

Film director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and comedian Ohn Daing were among the prominent figures convicted under the law, which was passed in July. They were each handed a seven-year jail term after speaking out against a promotional video promoting the elections.

Logistical Nightmare and Pressure

Civilians are "being coerced from all sides," Mr Türk said in a statement, pointing out that resistance forces have made warnings asking people to shun the polls.

The military has been engaged on multiple battlefields, against both armed resistance groups who oppose the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own forces. It ceded territory of vast areas of the country in a series of major setbacks, but regained territory this year following sustained aerial bombardment made possible through support from China and Russia.

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

A Limited Vote

Voting is set to take place in three rounds over the coming weeks in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's 330 townships, with the rest deemed too unstable. Outcomes are expected by late January.

There is unlikely to be any voting in as much as one half of the country. Even in the townships that are voting, some districts will hold elections, making it challenging to predict a likely turnout.

Six parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, are fielding candidates nationwide, while dozens more parties and non-aligned contenders will compete only at the state or regional levels.

Approximately forty groups, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which scored landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been dissolved. Suu Kyi and a number of the party's key leaders have been imprisoned under charges widely condemned as fabricated, while the rest are in exile.

International Condemnation

"Through dividing the vote into stages, the authorities can adjust tactics 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.

Western governments, including the United Kingdom and the EU legislature, have dismissed the vote as a sham, while regional bloc Asean has called for political dialogue to come before any election.

The Burmese junta has dismissed condemnation of the polls, maintaining that it aims to "return [the country] to a multi-party democratic system".

"The election is being held for Myanmar. It is being held for the people of Myanmar. It is not intended for the outside world," a military representative told a news conference last week.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are rejecting "the path to democracy".