First election since 2021 coup: Myanmar is voting after 5 years amid civil war
Myanmar is holding its first general election since the 2021 military coup, which the junta claims restores democracy. Critics, however, view it as a sham to legitimize military rule amid a brutal civil war. With major opposition parties banned and leaders jailed, the election is highly contentious, lacking genuine competition and free expression.
Myanmar has begun voting in its first general election since the military seized power in a coup in February 2021, an event the ruling junta presents as a return to democratic order after years of turmoil.
Polling started on December 28 in the first of three phases and will run through January, even as a brutal civil war continues across large parts of the country.For the generals, the election is meant to signal stability and provide a pathway out of diplomatic isolation. For critics, including Western governments, the United Nations and rights groups, it is something else entirely: a tightly controlled exercise designed to entrench military power behind a civilian façade.
With major parties banned, opposition leaders jailed, and millions unable to vote, the ballot has become one of the most contentious political moments in Myanmar’s modern history.
Myanmar Heads to Polls After Five Years as Rights Groups Slam Military-Run Process
A vote held amid war and fragmentation
The election is taking place nearly five years after the army, known as the Tatmadaw, overturned the landslide 2020 victory of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), alleging fraud without credible evidence. The coup triggered mass protests, a violent military crackdown, and the emergence of armed resistance groups aligned with ethnic minority militias.
The conflict has since displaced more than 3.6 million people and left over 11 million facing food insecurity, according to UN agencies.Against this backdrop, voting is being held only in areas under junta control. The military has acknowledged that elections cannot take place in at least 56 of Myanmar’s 330 townships, many of them in rebel-held regions. Even within townships that are voting, entire constituencies have been cancelled on security grounds, leaving nearly one in five seats in the lower house uncontested.The poll itself is staggered across three dates — 28 December, 11 January and 25 January — a structure critics say allows the authorities to adjust tactics as results come in.
Who is running — and who is missing
On paper, 57 political parties and more than 4,800 candidates are contesting the elections. In reality, the field is heavily skewed. Only six parties have been allowed to compete nationwide under tightened registration rules. The largest and most dominant is the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which is effectively running unchallenged in dozens of constituencies.The absence of Aung San Suu Kyi and her party looms over the process. The NLD, which won around 90 per cent of parliamentary seats in 2020, was dissolved after refusing to re-register under rules imposed by a junta-appointed election commission. Suu Kyi herself remains in military detention, serving a 27-year sentence on charges widely described by rights groups as politically motivated.According to the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), parties that collectively won more than 70 per cent of votes and 90 per cent of seats in the last election will not appear on the ballot this time.