Conflict-ravaged Burma Votes in Broadly Condemned Political Theater.

Myanmar is going to the polls in a vote broadly rejected as a farce, with major political parties banned, many of their leaders jailed and as much as half of the country unable to participate because of an ongoing internal conflict.

A Phased Ballot Amid War

The ruling junta is holding a phased ballot nearly half a decade after it took control in a takeover, which ignited widespread opposition and escalated into a civil war.

Analysts note the military regime, with China's support, is attempting to validate and entrench its power as it looks for a way out of the devastating deadlock.

"There are no conditions for the practice of the freedoms of freedom of expression, association or peaceful assembly," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk stated.

Over two hundred people have been charged for interfering with or opposing the polls under a recently enacted legislation which imposes harsh penalties, including the possibility of execution.

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

Logistical Nightmare and Pressure

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

The army has been fighting on several fronts, against both armed resistance groups who reject the coup, as well as ethnic armies which have their own militias. It ceded territory of vast areas of the country in a string of defeats, but clawed back territory this year after relentless airstrikes made possible through support from China and Russia.

All of this and the fact that large parts of the country are still under opposition control presents a huge logistical challenge 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 three hundred and thirty townships, with the remainder deemed too unstable. Outcomes are expected around the end of January.

There is unlikely to be any voting in up to fifty percent of the country. Even in the townships that are voting, some districts will hold elections, making it challenging to forecast a possible turnout.

A handful of parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, are fielding candidates nationwide, while another 51 parties and independent candidates will contest only at the local levels.

Some 40 parties, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which scored landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been banned. Suu Kyi and a number of the party's senior figures have been imprisoned under charges broadly viewed as fabricated, while the rest are in hiding abroad.

Criticism and Rejection

"Through dividing the vote into stages, the junta can adjust tactics if the outcomes in the first phase do not go their way," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a representative of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts.

Nations in the West, including the UK and the EU legislature, have rejected the vote as a sham, while neighbouring group Asean has urged political dialogue to come before any election.

The Myanmar regime has rejected condemnation of the polls, maintaining that it aims to "restore a multi-party democratic system".

"The election is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of this country. It is not being held for the international community," a military representative stated at a news conference last week.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who refuse to vote are rejecting "the path to democracy".