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Trouble-torn Myanmar (also known as Burma or Brahmadesh) is approaching for the three-phase national elections, starting on 28 December 2025, where the results are expected in January next. Several political parties, precisely the proxies of Burmese military junta, have been participating in the polls, though Aung San Suu Kyi’s party National League for Democracy (NLD) is prohibited. It is assumed to be a one side poll, where the junta supported candidates are poised to win.
As the southeast Asian nation of nearly 55 million population is engulfed in a civil war where the military junta continues fighting the people’s militia, thousands are in jail, including President Win Myint and Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi, since the military coup in February 2021, and polling to take place in 274 out of 330 townships (loosely termed for constituencies), the exercise will hardly enjoy credibility among the global communities.
Myanmar’s Union Election Commission (UEC) prepares for the polls, where the second and third phases are scheduled for 11 and 25 January 2026. The UEC had already deregistered a number of major political parties citing the reasons for not fulfilling necessary criteria including one to possess a certain number of members and functioning offices. However, over 1.12 million Myanmar nationals are now living abroad and Thailand emerges as the supporter of nearly 5 million Myanmarese who are taking shelter both legally and illegally in the bordering country. Their participation is doubtful ensuring the elections with very low voters’ turn out.
The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar on 19 November reported that the military regime enacted a new election law imposing harsh penalties up to seven years of imprisonment for any speech, incitement, protest, distribution of leaflets against the electoral process. The newly formulated repressive law also imposed heavy punishments for damaging ballot papers or vandalizing polling stations as well as intimidating candidates, election workers and voters in general. It may be mentioned that many Myanmarese citizens, who criticized the electoral process on social media, were sentenced for many years in prison. The number of victims is apprehended to increase in the coming days.
“Thousands have been killed and millions displaced across Myanmar in the last four years, many political opponents along with journalists are languishing in different jails, several prominent leaders left the country as it’s facing a severe economic crisis because of financial mismanagements of the military rulers,” said a political activist based in Rangoon, who wanted anonymity, adding that the Min Aung Hlaing-led junta is planning to get rid of all troubles by conducting the polls, even without credibility, where less than ten parties are allowed to field candidates nationwide and 51 political entities to take part in regional assemblies.
A recent editorial in Mizzima newspaper, assumed to be highly circulated and influential in the Land of Golden Pagodas, said that the junta after seizing power in 2021 has now been working ‘to consolidate its rule through a veneer of electoral legitimacy’. However, the crackdown on dissenting voices in the lead-up to polling continues and it uncovers the authoritarian foundation of the military regime.
“From the outset, the proposed election has been widely regarded as an attempt by the junta to legitimize its seizure of power through controlled and deeply compromised political processes. The military leadership has promised a return to disciplined democracy, a phrase long used by the military to justify its enduring control over the country’s political system,” said the news outlet.
The critics and observers both within and outside Myanmar have argued that any election held under the current circumstances cannot be free, fair, or credible. Since the 2021 coup, thousands of political activists, journalists, and ordinary citizens have been arrested, and many have been tortured or killed. Dissent has been met with brutal repression. The junta has dissolved the NLD, which once ruled the country, and implemented restrictive laws to prevent credible opposition from participating in any future political process, it added.
An exile regime, named National Unity Government (NUG), formed by the elected representatives-who were not allowed to take charge, remains in a difficult position to survive. The NUG has urged the international community to denounce the sham election and also prevent any election observers to Myanmar during the polls. The ASEAN leaders, who are seemingly weak in their views against the brutal military regime at Naypyitaw, insisted on a cessation of violence while refusing to send election observers from the member-nations.
All the neighboring countries including India expressed their concern over the continued instability on border localities and influx of Myanmarese migrants. Political observers believe that the forthcoming elections will hardly help installing a civilian regime, guided by the Parliamentary rules, in Myanmar, where the military dictators continue enjoying absolute political power. The current Tatmadaw chief may emerge as the new President of Myanmar and he will appoint someone of his trusted associates as the military commander-in-chief. At the same time, the Parliament (under the military-drafted 2008 Constitution) will remain a non-functioning entity while dealing with any military-related developments.