Junta calls off vote in thousands of wards, village tracts as election draws near

Myanmar’s military junta admitted late last week that it will not be possible to vote in nearly 3,000 village tract-level jurisdictions in December and January, renewing doubts about the regime’s ability to carry out its plans for multistage elections. In a statement issued on December 5, the regime said that the first two phases of voting would not proceed as scheduled in 2,931 village tracts and wards across 202 townships. The junta had planned to stage the election in three rounds, each separated by two weeks. The regime took power in a military coup in 2021, and the three rounds of elections, scheduled to finish by the end of January, are widely seen as a bid by the military-backed authorities to make a claim to legitimacy and international recognition. The first phase of elections is scheduled for December 28 in 102 townships, followed by a second phase on January 11 in 100 townships, and a third phase with the remaining townships. December 6 and 7 show that every state and region except for Yangon Region and the Naypyitaw Union Territory includes areas where the regime has decided not to proceed with elections. In some townships, the polling will take place only in the central urban wards, while in still others even parts of the town centres will be excluded. The largest number of excluded jurisdictions are in Sagaing Region, where resistance forces commanded by the publicly mandated National Unity Government control wide swaths of territory. Of the 2,770 village tracts and 161 urban wards where the elections will not go ahead, 847 are in 20 townships across Sagaing Region. An anti-election placard displayed in Ayadaw Township on November 19 (Photo: Ayadaw People’s Strike) Soe Win Swe of the regional civil society organisation Sagaing Forum said the lists amount to an admission by the junta that it has not secured territorial control. “By publishing this, the military is acknowledging the extent to which people reject its rule,” he said. “And this is only the list of places where they say voting is impossible. Whether they can actually hold elections in the remaining areas is another question entirely.” The military regime’s own data show that even townships housing major military command centres are not fully secure. In Sagaing Region’s capital, Monywa, which is home to the Northwestern Regional Military Command headquarters, 52 of 54 village tracts have been deemed unable to vote, leaving only the town and two outlying tracts. Intense fighting has raged for months in Kale Township, Sagaing Region, where only 12 of 20 wards and seven of 40 village tracts are still listed on the election schedule. Locals and resistance groups have confirmed that ongoing clashes are the reason voting is not practical in the remaining jurisdictions. The wide exclusion of territories from the planned elections underscores the limitations of the military’s administrative reach, particularly in resistance strongholds such as Sagaing Region. It also casts further doubt on the junta’s ability to realise its repeated promises to hold a truly nationwide election despite the continuously escalating conflict across the country. A total of 57 political parties will compete in the military-run election, with only six entering contests nationwide. The remaining 51 will field candidates only within specific states and regions, according to the junta-controlled election commission. The parties competing nationwide are the Union Solidarity and Development Party, the National Unity Party, the People’s Pioneer Party, the Myanmar Farmers Development Party, the Shan and Ethnic Democratic Party (also called the White Tiger Party), and the People’s Party. The USDP, a proxy for the military led by retired, high-ranking officers, is the dominant force among the six parties with national reach, with the remaining five also closely aligned with junta or USDP officials’ interests. Former general Thet Pon campaigns in Nanda Wun Ward, Sagaing, on December 6. (Photo: USDP Sagaing) Observers have characterised the election as an attempt to manufacture the appearance of multiparty political competition while keeping close control over the electoral process. Resistance groups have rejected and condemned the military’s election plan, with activists both inside and outside the country stepping up efforts to oppose it. In areas outside junta control, protesters have placed signs in visible public spaces calling the vote illegitimate, as well as organising anti-election demonstrations. Resistance forces have designated the weeks from October 28 to December 31 as the period for a campaign dubbed “Boycott the Illegal Sham Election”.

Junta calls off vote in thousands of wards, village tracts as election draws near

Contrary to plans announced earlier in the year, the military regime has proved unable to secure control of wide areas of territory in Myanmar ahead of the scheduled three-phase election

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