Latest news with #UnionElectionCommission
3 days ago
- Politics
Myanmar will start national elections on Dec. 28 though much of the country is wracked by war
BANGKOK -- Myanmar will hold nationwide elections beginning Dec. 28, setting a date for polls that have been denounced as a sham to normalize the army's 2021 seizure of power even as much of the country is wracked by civil war. It is unclear how voting can take place when the military government is believed to control less than half the country, with the rest held by pro-democracy resistance fighters or ethnic minority rebels. All of Myanmar's 330 townships have been designated as constituencies for the election, the Union Election Commission said previously. Nearly 60 parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, have registered to run, according to the commission. The commission announced the start date Monday and said the elections will be conducted in phases and a full schedule will be released soon. Several opposition organizations, including armed resistance groups, have said they will try to derail the election. The military government enacted an election law last month that carries a potential death penalty for anyone who opposes or disrupts the elections. Critics have already said the military-planned election will be neither free nor fair because there is no free media and most of the leaders of Aung San Suu Kyi's dissolved National League for Democracy party have been arrested. The NLD won a landslide victory in the last election in 2020, but the military seized power in February 2021 before the party could begin its second five-year term. Suu Kyi, 80, is serving prison sentences totaling 27 years after being convicted in a series of politically tainted prosecutions brought by the military. The military justified its seizure of power by claiming massive fraud in the 2020 election, though there was no evidence of it. It has said an election was the primary goal of its takeover but had repeatedly pushed back the date. The army takeover was met with widespread popular opposition, triggering armed resistance that intensified into a civil war. The military lately has stepped up military activity, both on the ground and with airstrikes, to retake areas controlled by opposition forces, and airstrikes killing scores of civilians have been increasing. Myanmar independent online media reported at least 24 deaths in the military's bombing Sunday of a hospital in the town of Mawchi, in Kayah state, also known as Karenni. The town is a center for wolfram and tungsten mining. The provisional government formed by resistance groups in the state disclosed a higher toll Monday on Facebook, saying 32 civilians were killed, five were injured and several were still missing. On Thursday, at least 21 people were killed by an airstrike on the town of Mogok, the center of the Southeast Asian country's gem-mining industry. The army has not mentioned the strikes and usually says it only attacks legitimate targets of war, accusing the resistance forces of being terrorists.
The Diplomat
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Diplomat
Myanmar Military Administration Sets Date For Long-awaited Election
Myanmar's military junta yesterday finalized the timing of the election that it plans to hold at the end of the year, despite its limited hold over large parts of the country. 'The first phase of the multi-party democratic general election for each parliament will begin on Sunday 28 December 2025,' Myanmar's Union Election Commission said in a statement quoted by the AFP news agency. The dates for the subsequent phases of the elections, which the military authorities plan to hold across December and January due to the uncertain security situation, 'will be announced later,' it added. At the end of July, the military-dominated National Defense and Security Council (NDSC) lifted the state of emergency that had been in place since the coup of February 2021, in order to prepare for the election. In doing so, it dissolved the State Administration Council junta and replaced it with a National Defense and Peacekeeping Commission, which will remain in power until the formation of a parliament and government after the planned elections. During a speech in Magwe Region yesterday, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the country's military chief, 'underscored that the multiparty democratic general election will begin on 28 December and will be conducted in stages, with measures in place to prevent any irregularities in voting,' the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported. The military has argued (if not in so many words) that the election will create the conditions for the resolution of the country's conflicts. In Magwe yesterday, Min Aung Hlaing told an audience that 'problems arising from political differences must be resolved through political means.' However, with resistance groups and opposition political parties either barred from running or refusing to do so, the election has been dismissed nearly universally as a ploy to preserve the generals' hold on power. As in 2010, any government that emerges from the election is set to be dominated by proxies of the military, and its legitimacy is likely to be hotly contested. The question that continues to hang over the election plan is whether and to what extent it will be possible to administer an electoral process, even a superficial one, outside of the country's ethnic Bamar core. Since the 2021 coup, resistance groups, including long-established ethnic armed organizations, have seized large parts of territory from the central authorities, particularly in Shan, Kachin, Rakhine, Chin, Kayan (Karenni), and Kayin (Karen) states, as well as parts of Mandalay, Magwe, and Sagaing regions. In addition to this, more than 3.5 million people have now been displaced by conflict, according to the U.N., while the country's economic has atrophied. While the pace of territorial losses has slowed over the past six months, and even been reversed under Chinese pressure in northern Shan State, the junta remains on the defensive in many parts of the country. On the same day that it lifted the nationwide state of emergency, the NDSC also announced local states of emergency in 63 townships in nine of the country's 14 states and regions, many of them under the control of resistance groups of one sort or another. As a result, the run-up to the elections is likely to see an intensification of the military's attempts to eliminate the resistance to its rule or 'liberate' territory under the control of anti-regime groups. To take just one example, 'at least 25 civilians, including children,' were killed in a Myanmar regime airstrike on the resistance-controlled town in Kayah State's Hpasawng Township on Sunday, according to a report by The Irrawaddy. A local civil society group described it as the state's 'deadliest airstrike ever.' In this context, the military's election plans have the feel of an attempt to widen divisions in the already multifarious opposition movement and normalize Myanmar's relationship with the outside world, particularly its regional neighbors.
NHK
3 days ago
- Politics
- NHK
Myanmar to hold general elections starting December
Myanmar's election commission has announced that general elections will start in late December. The Union Election Commission on Monday said the "multi-party democratic" general elections will start on December 28. The military seized power in a 2021 coup, alleging that there had been fraud in general elections held the previous year. It detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Fighting continues between the military and pro-democracy forces in border areas and elsewhere. In late July, the military lifted a state of emergency put in place when it staged the coup. Military leader Min Aung Hlaing has insisted that elections would be held in December and January. It remains to be seen whether the elections will be held as announced, as they face strong opposition from pro-democracy forces. A person with ties to the forces told NHK that the elections cannot be recognized as legitimate and that they are illegal and fraudulent.
The Independent
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Myanmar's military rulers set December date for general election
Myanmar is set for a general election in late 2025, nearly five years after the military took power in a coup. The first phase was expected to start on 28 December, state broadcaster MRTV quoted the Union Election Commission as saying. The dates for subsequent phases would be announced later. The announcement came almost three weeks after the military junta said that it was ending the state of emergency and restructuring its administrative bodies to prepare for the election at the end of the year. The military imposed a state of emergency and drew up new administrative structures after ousting Aung San Suu Kyi's government in early 2021 and jailing members of her National League for Democracy Party. At least 55 political parties are registered for the election and nine of them plan to compete nationwide. "Six parties are under review for approval and registration,' The Global New Light of Myanmar reported earlier this month. But critics say the election will not be democratic since there is no free media in the country and most top members of Suu Kyi's party are in jail. The plan is widely seen as an attempt to legitimise and maintain the military's rule. The election is expected to be dominated by the junta's proxies and the outcome is likely to be favourable to the military, critics say. A general election was supposed to be held in August 2023 but the junta repeatedly pushed the date back. A newly formed interim administration announced its plan to hold voting in over 300 constituencies, including in areas currently held by armed groups opposed to the military. The military justified its February 2021 coup as a necessary intervention following what it claimed was widespread fraud in an election held three months earlier that was won decisively by Ms Suu Kyi's party. But election monitors found no evidence of the alleged fraud, which would have changed the outcome of the exercise.
Mint
4 days ago
- Politics
- Mint
Myanmar to hold first phase of general election on December 28
Myanmar is set to begin the first phase of its general election on December 28, according to a state television bulletin aired on Monday. This will be the country's first election since the military coup in 2021. Authorities have stated that the voting will be conducted in multiple phases across December and January due to security concerns. The announcement, broadcast on MRTV, did not offer any additional information apart from the date of the initial phase, Reuters reported. The dates for the subsequent phases of the elections, which authorities plan to hold over December and January for security reasons, will be announced later, Myanmar's Union Election Commission said, according to an announcement on MRTV. Myanmar has been roiled by violence since a 2021 coup that unseated an elected civilian government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and the ruling generals, led by military chief Min Aung Hlaing, have faced fierce resistance from armed groups. A total of 55 political parties have been registered for the polls, of which nine plan to compete nationwide, according to state media. 'Six parties are under review for approval and registration,' The Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported earlier this month. However, with anti-junta opposition groups either excluded from participating or choosing to boycott the election, Western governments have dismissed the upcoming vote as an attempt by the military to solidify its control. The election is widely expected to be dominated by parties aligned with the military. According to a state-run newspaper, the newly-formed interim administration has announced plans to hold elections in over 300 constituencies across the country, including regions currently controlled by armed groups opposed to the junta. Last year, military-backed authorities held a nationwide census in an effort to create voter rolls, but were only able to conduct on-ground surveys in 145 out of Myanmar's 330 townships. The military justified its February 2021 coup as a necessary intervention following what it said was widespread fraud in an election three months earlier that was won decisively by Suu Kyi's now-defunct ruling party. No evidence of the alleged fraud, which would have changed the outcome, was found by election monitors.
