Myanmar torn by the war to hold the first general elections since 2021 coup d’etat

Myanmar will begin its general elections on December 28, announced its military government, in a progressive survey largely condemned as an imposture which will be used to anchor the power of the junta.

It will be the first vote since the junta seized power in a bloody coup in 2021 and imprisoned the chief democratically elected Aung San Sung Kyi.

Myanmar has been involved in a civil war since then, with fatal battles between military and ethnic armed groups, many of which said they would not allow voting in their region.

The previous plans for holding an election have been delayed several times, because the soldiers have struggled to contain an insurrection of the opposition which took control of a large part of the country.

Some 55 parties registered in the polls, the media said on Monday, adding that nine of them planned to compete for seats nationwide.

“The first phase of the multi -party democratic general elections for each parliament will begin on Sunday, December 28, 2025,” the Myanmar electoral commission said in a statement.

“The dates for the following phases will be announced later.”

With large parts of the Myanmar under the control of the opposition and in a state of war, holding this election is a formidable logistical exercise for the military leaders of the country.

But the chief of the Junta, Min Aung Hlaing, who led the catastrophic coup four years ago, said that the vote was to go ahead and threatened serious sanctions for anyone criticized or hindered the elections.

The National League for Democracy, led by Suu Kyi, which won landslides during the two elections before the coup, will not be authorized to challenge it.

The planned election has been widely rejected, but it has the support of the most powerful neighbor in Myanmar, who considers stability in the Southeast Asian nation as a vital vital interest.

Critics believe that the junta will use polls to maintain its power through proxy political parties.

Tom Andrews, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Myanmar rights, had the junta in June in June to design an “electoral exercise mirage” to give himself a legitimacy veneer.

Andrews called on the international community to reject the elections to “not allow the military junta to … get away with this fraud”.

Thousands of people have been killed through Myanmar since the coup, which destroyed the economy in a large part of the country and left a humanitarian vacuum.

Myanmar was also struck by a devastating earthquake in March and international financing cuts, which left vulnerable people in desperate and dangerous predicates.

The junta would be “delusional” to think that an election owned in current circumstances will be considered “from a credible distance,” Human Rights Watch told BBC earlier this year.

“As the pioneer of the elections, they must end violence, release all persons prisoner arbitrarily and allow all political parties to register and participate instead of dissolving opposition parties,” the NGO said.