Kokang army blocks sham elections outside Lashio

Residents of outlying areas of Lashio Township said they were forced to go into Lashio’s urban centre to cast ballots on Sunday when the Kokang ethnic armed group controlling their villages prevented junta-organised voting there. Despite having allowed campaigning and voter registration in the Lashio Township village tracts under its control, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)—commonly called the “Kokang army”—blocked the setup of ballot boxes in at least ten village tracts, according to locals. “At first, they said we would vote in the village,” said a man living in the township’s Nam Pawng village, some 14 miles southeast of the city. “Now, the Kokang side said it’s not allowed. We had to go into the city to vote.” Residents of at least 10 village tracts on the MNDAA-controlled Lashio-Mongyai-Hsipaw road—including Nam Ma Baw Da, Hkar Shi, Hsin Int, Pong Htun, Mae Han, and Nawng Mun as well as Nam Pawng—said they had to go all the way to Lashio to cast their ballots. “They came from the villages by car,” said a source connected to one of the competing political parties. “They arrived, organised by village tract, in transport arranged by the military authorities.” According to the junta’s previous plan, the election was only to be held in Lashio’s 12 urban wards, and the Hu Mun village tract on the northeastern outskirts of the city. However, in the second week of December local administrators began drawing up voter registries in the MNDAA-controlled village tracts south of the city. According to local civilians, MNDAA forces provided security during the collection of information for those voter registries. However, when the time came to set up ballot boxes in the same village tracts three days before the scheduled election, the MNDAA refused to allow it, according to local and party sources. An MNDAA spokesperson posted on his Facebook page that the matter was a misunderstanding. He said the MNDAA had issued a directive against opening polling stations in the Kokang Special Region 1 area, a territory designated for Kokang self-determination that encompasses northern Shan State’s Konkyan and Laukkai townships some 70 miles northeast of Lashio. According to the political party source who spoke to Myanmar Now, after the MNDAA blocked the vote in their village tracts, the ballot boxes were brought into the city. Residents of those village tracts were then allowed to come into the city to cast their votes as early as a day before election day. “They designated a polling station at the Yan Taing Aung Pagoda in Ward 1 of Lashio, and at some schools. About half came to vote,” he said. The Kokang army captured Lashio, along with the Myanmar military’s Northeastern Regional Military Command (RMC) headquarters, in 2024, but were forced to return control to Myanmar’s military in accordance with a Chinese-brokered ceasefire earlier this year. While junta forces took over Lashio’s 12 urban wards, the Kokang army retained control in some of the township’s village tracts. Lashio Township has a population of around 300,000 according to data from Myanmar’s General Administration Department. Pro-junta media outlets claimed ahead of the election that there were more than 60 polling stations in Lashio, with over 130,000 eligible voters. Sources within the competing political parties said voter turnout was uneven, with many voters queuing at some polling stations throughout the day on Sunday, while some were virtually empty by afternoon. The major competing parties in northern Shan State include the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, commonly called the White Tiger party; the National Unity Party; the People’s Pioneer Party; and the military’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party USDP. Lashio was among the 102 Myanmar townships included in the first phase of the elections held on Sunday. However, holding the vote proved feasible only in the 12 urban wards of Lashio and 14 village tracts, with no voting in the township’s 64 remaining village tracts. Two additional election phases are planned, with the second to be held on January 11 in 100 townships and the third to be held on January 25 in 63 townships.

Kokang army blocks sham elections outside Lashio

The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), which returned control of the city of Lashio to the military this year, did not allow ballots to be cast in the nearby village tracts it continues to hold

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