The UN, human rights groups and opposition parties say the electoral process is not free, fair or credible
\n Kyauktada
\nPolls have closed in Myanmar\u2019s first general election since the country\u2019s military toppled Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi\u2019s democratically elected government in a 2021 coup.
\nThe heavily restricted election took place in about a third of the Southeast Asian nation\u2019s 330 townships, with large areas inaccessible amid a raging civil war between the military and an array of opposition forces.
\nIn Yangon, Myanmar\u2019s largest city, polling stations opened at 6am on Sunday (23:30 GMT, Saturday) before officially closing at 4pm (10:30 GMT).
\nFollowing the initial phase, two rounds of voting will be held on January 11 and January 25, while voting has been cancelled in 65 townships altogether.
\n\u201cThis means that at least 20 percent of the country is disenfranchised at this stage,\u201d said Al Jazeera\u2019s Tony Cheng, reporting from Yangon earlier on Sunday. \u201cThe big question is going to be here in the cities, what is the turnout going to be like?\u201d
\n\u201cWe are getting reports, mostly speculative at this stage, that this has been a very low turnout. We have had an off the record chat with the officials here, and they estimate that a third of the registered voters turned out to vote,\u201d he said as the polls closed.
\nThe election has been derided by critics \u2013 including the United Nations, some Western countries and human rights \u2060groups \u2013 as an exercise that is not free, fair or credible, with anti-military political parties not competing.
\nAung San Suu Kyi, who was deposed by the military \u200bmonths after her National League for Democracy (NLD) won the last general election by a landslide in 2020, remains in detention, and her party has been dissolved.
\nThe pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is widely expected to emerge as the largest party.
\nThe military, which has governed Myanmar since 2021, said the vote is a chance for a new start, politically and economically, for the nation of 55 million people, with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing consistently framing the polls as a path to reconciliation.
\nDressed in civilian clothes, the military chief cast his ballot shortly after polling stations opened in Naypyidaw, the country\u2019s capital. He then held up an ink-soaked figure and smiled widely.
\nVoters must dip a \u2060finger into indelible ink after casting a ballot to ensure they do not vote more than once.
\nThe general told reporters afterwards that the elections were free and fair, and the vote was not tarnished because it was being held by the military.
\nThe state-run Global New Light of Myanmar, in an opinion piece on Sunday, said the poll would open a new chapter and \u201cserve as bridge for the people of Myanmar to reach a prosperous future\u201d.
\nEarlier, it reported that election observers from Russia, China, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Vietnam, Nicaragua and India have flown into the country ahead of the polls.
\n\u2018A resounding USDP victory\u2019
\nBut with fighting still raging in many areas of the country, the UN\u2019s Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Tom Andrews called on the international community to reject the military-run poll.
\n\u201cAn election organised by a junta that continues to bomb civilians, jail political leaders and criminalise all forms of dissent is not an election \u2013 it is a theatre of the absurd performed at gunpoint,\u201d Andrews said in a statement.
\n\u201cThis is not a pathway out of Myanmar\u2019s crisis. It is a ploy that will perpetuate repression, division and conflict,\u201d he said.
\nThe civil war, which was triggered by the 2021 coup, has killed an estimated 90,000 people, displaced 3.5 million and left some 22 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.
\nAccording to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, more than 22,000 people are currently detained for political offences.
\nIn downtown Yangon, stations were cordoned off overnight, with security staff posted outside, while armed officers guarded traffic intersections. Election officials set up equipment and installed electronic voting machines, which are being used for the first time in Myanmar.
\nThe machines will not allow write-in candidates or spoiled ballots.
\nAmong a trickle of early voters in the city was 45-year-old Swe Maw, who dismissed international criticism. \u201cIt\u2019s not an important matter,\u201d he told the AFP news agency. \u201cThere are always people who like and dislike.\u201d
\nIn the central Mandalay region, 40-year-old Moe Moe Myint said it was \u201cimpossible for this election to be free and fair\u201d.
\n\u201cHow can we support a junta-run election when this military has destroyed our lives?\u201d she told AFP. \u201cWe are homeless, hiding in jungles, and living between life and death,\u201d she added.
\nThe second round of polling will take place in two weeks\u2019 time, before the third and final round on January 25. Dates for counting votes and announcing election results have not been declared.
\nAnalysts say the military\u2019s attempt to establish a stable administration in the midst of an expansive conflict is fraught with risk, and that significant international recognition is unlikely for any military-controlled government.
\n\u201cThe outcome is hardly in doubt: a resounding USDP victory and a continuation of army rule with a thin civilian veneer,\u201d wrote Richard Horsey, an analyst at the International Crisis Group in a briefing earlier this month.
\n\u201cBut it will in no way ease Myanmar\u2019s political crisis or weaken the resolve of a determined armed resistance. Instead, it will likely harden political divisions and prolong Myanmar\u2019s state failure. The new administration, which will take power in April 2026, will have few better options, little credibility and likely no feasible strategy for moving the country in a positive direction,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The UN, human rights groups and opposition parties say the electoral process is not free, fair or credible Kyauktada Polls have closed in Myanmar\u2019s first general election since the country\u2019s military toppled Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi\u2019s democratically elected government in a 2021 coup. The heavily restricted election took place in about a third […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522651,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-522700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n