Conflict-ravaged Burma Goes to the Polls in Widely Criticised 'Sham' Election.

Myanmar is going to the polls in a vote broadly rejected as a sham, with key opposition groups dissolved, numerous figures imprisoned and a significant portion of the country unlikely to vote because of an continuing civil war.

A Staggered Vote Amid Conflict

The military government is conducting a staggered election nearly five years after it seized power in a coup, which sparked widespread opposition and escalated into a civil war.

Observers say the military regime, with China's support, is attempting to validate and entrench its power as it seeks a way out of the costly deadlock.

"The environment does not allow for the practice of the rights of free speech, association or peaceful assembly," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stated.

Over two hundred people have been charged for interfering with or opposing the polls under a new law which carries severe punishments, including the death penalty.

Film director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer Ohn Daing were among the well-known individuals convicted under the law, which was enacted in July. They were each handed a prison sentence of seven years after criticising a promotional video endorsing the elections.

Immense Challenges and Coercion

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

The military has been fighting on multiple battlefields, against both pro-democracy fighters who oppose the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own forces. It lost control of large parts of the country in a series of major setbacks, but clawed back territory this year after sustained aerial bombardment enabled by support from China and Russia.

All of this and the fact that significant regions of the country are still under rebel administration presents a massive logistical challenge for conducting an election.

A Restricted Poll

The ballot is set to take place in three phases over the next month in 274 of the country's three hundred and thirty townships, with the remainder deemed not secure enough. Results are expected by late January.

There is not expected 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 challenging to predict a possible turnout.

Six parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, are running nominees nationwide, while another 51 parties and non-aligned contenders 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 dissolved. Suu Kyi and a number of the party's key leaders have been jailed under charges broadly viewed as fabricated, while others are in exile.

International Condemnation

"By splitting the vote into stages, 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.

Western governments, including the UK and the European Parliament, have dismissed the vote as a sham, while regional bloc Asean has called for negotiations to precede any election.

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

"This vote is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of this country. It is not intended for the international community," a military representative told a news conference last week.

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