Myanmar votes in second phase of junta-run election

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KAWHMU — Myanmar's junta held the second phase of elections on Sunday that democracy watchdogs warn will let the military prolong its rule, opening polling in the constituency of deposed democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The armed forces have ruled Myanmar for most of its post-independence history, snatching back power in a 2021 coup after a decade-long democratic thaw, nullifying the previous poll, detaining Suu Kyi and plunging the country into civil war.

With Suu Kyi sidelined and her massively popular party dissolved, democracy advocates say the vote has been rigged by a crackdown on dissent and a ballot stacked with military allies.

Polls opened on Sunday morning in dozens of constituencies, including Suu Kyi's former seat of Kawhmu south of commercial hub Yangon.

Farmer Than Than Sint acknowledged Myanmar's "many problems" but told AFP she voted in pursuit of peace.

"We know it will not come right away. But we need to go step-by-step for our future generations," the 54-year-old said after voting.

The junta has pledged that the three-phase election will return power to the people after it ends on January 25.

The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), described by many analysts as the military's prime proxy, won nearly 90 percent of lower house seats in the first phase late last month.

"I think the results lie only in the mouth of the military," a 50-year-old resident of Yangon, where voting also took place, told AFP.

"This election has absolutely nothing to do with escaping this suffering," said the resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

'Engineered' polls

The first phase had a turnout of around 50 percent, far below the roughly 70 percent of the 2020 election when most voters backed Suu Kyi's party.

A truck blasted loudspeaker messages along the main road in Kawhmu, urging voters to come out.

Kyaw Than, a 72-year-old farmer, said it was better to vote. "It would be weird to sit by and do nothing," he said.

There is no polling in large enclaves carved out by rebel factions, whom the military accused of staging drone, rocket and bomb attacks during the first phase of voting that killed five people.

Analysts say the junta is attempting to launder its image, aiming to improve diplomatic relations, increase foreign investment and sap momentum from rebels.

"The junta engineered the polls to ensure victory for its proxy, entrench military domination in Myanmar, and manufacture a facade of legitimacy while violence and repression continue unabated," UN rights expert Tom Andrews said in a statement on Thursday.

The military justified its coup by alleging that Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide over pro-military parties in 2020 through massive voter fraud.

Election monitors say those claims were unfounded.

Parties that won 90 percent of seats in 2020 -- including the NLD -- have been dissolved, according to the Asian Network for Free Elections.

Regardless of the vote, a quarter of parliamentary seats will be reserved for the armed forces under a constitution drafted during a previous period of military rule.

Limited electorate 

More than 330 people are being pursued under junta-enacted laws, including clauses that punish protest or criticism of the poll with up to 10 years in prison.

There are more than 22,000 political prisoners in junta jails, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group.

Security forces put down pro-democracy protests since the coup, but activists formed ragtag guerrilla units, often fighting alongside ethnic minority armies long opposed to central rule.

Voting has been cancelled in dozens of constituencies, many of them battlegrounds or regions where rebels run parallel administrations beyond the junta's reach.

The military waged offensives, which witnesses said included air strikes targeting civilian sites, in an attempt to claw back ground before the voting.

There is no official toll for Myanmar's civil war, but monitoring group ACLED, which tallies media reports of violence, estimates that 90,000 people have been killed on all sides.