Myanmar's First Elections Since 2021 Military Coup Witness Low Voter Engagement

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Under the shadow of civil war and questions over the poll’s credibility, ‍voters in Myanmar have cast their ballots in apparently low numbers in a general election.

It was the first such ballot since a military coup toppled the last civilian government in 2021.

The military junta, having crushed pro-democracy protests after the coup and sparked a nationwide rebellion, said the three-phase vote would bring political stability to the impoverished Southeast Asian nation, despite international condemnation of the exercise.

But the United Nations, some Western nations and human rights groups have said the vote is not free, fair or credible, given anti-junta political ⁠parties are out of the running and it is illegal to criticise the polls.

Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was ousted by the military just months after her National League for Democracy secured a sweeping victory in the 2020 general elections. Currently, she remains detained, and her once-dominant political party has been disbanded.

The military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), led by retired generals and fielding one-fifth of all candidates against severely diminished competition, is set to return to power, said Lalita Hanwong, a lecturer and Myanmar expert at Thailand’s Kasetsart University.

She criticized the military’s orchestrated election, labeling it a ploy to extend the military’s grip on power. According to her, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and other military-aligned groups are expected to collaborate to establish the next government.

Voter participation in the current elections appears significantly lower compared to the high turnout witnessed in 2020, as reported by residents from various cities across Myanmar.

The elections are segmented into three parts, with subsequent voting sessions slated for the following month. Source: Getty / Lauren DeCicca

A military carring soliders driving on a city street.

Additional voting rounds are scheduled for January 11 and January 25, covering 265 out of Myanmar’s 330 townships. However, the junta’s control over these regions remains incomplete.

Tom Andrews, the UN special envoy for human rights in Myanmar, said the election was not a pathway out of the country’s crisis and must be strongly rejected.

Zaw Min Tun, a junta spokesperson, acknowledged international critics who do not support the elections.

“However, from this election, there will be political stability,” ‍he told reporters after voting in Naypyitaw. “We believe there will be a better future.”