Villages under Kokang Army control in Lashio Township prepare for elections

Among the jurisdictions where the Myanmar junta has scheduled elections in December and January are several village tracts in northern Shan State’s Lashio Township controlled by the group commonly known as the Kokang army, local sources said. The Myanmar military regime had originally planned to hold the elections only in Lashio’s 12 urban wards and the Hu Mun village tract to the town’s northeast, but the plans have now reportedly changed to include nine village tracts controlled by the ethnically Kokang armed group Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). The Kokang army was under an obligation to withdraw its fighters from areas they were occupying southeast of Lashio, according to the terms of a ceasefire agreement the group reached with the junta at the beginning of 2025, but has maintained a presence there. The areas specified in the agreement include the village tracts of Nam Pawng, Nam Ma Bawa Da, Man Pyin, and Hkar Shi, located along the Mongyai-Lashio road. “At first, the villages near the Mongyai-Lashio road weren’t included. Now they’re included,” said a man from Mongyai, referring to villages where voting is now scheduled. “Nam Pawng and Nam Ma Bawa Da are among them,” he said, referring to two tracts bordering on Mongyai Township. Elections are also reportedly proceeding in four village tracts on the Lashio-Hsipaw road southwest of Lashio, sources connected to participating political parties said. The sources added, however, that only villages lying along the route will be included, while polling will not go ahead in parts of the village tracts farther from the road. “From Hsint Inn to Mae Han village, villages on the Lashio side will be included," said a man from Nawng Mun village, which is in one of the included tracts. Kunlong Bridge in Lashio, seen in October 2025 (Photo: Myanmar Now) Lashio Township is made up of more than 70 village tracts in addition to the city of Lashio’s 12 urban wards and had a population of nearly 300,000 before Myanmar’s military coup in 2021. The MNDAA, as a member of the anti-junta Three Brotherhood Alliance, completely took over the city in 2024 during a broad, coordinated offensive against the Myanmar military dubbed “Operation 1027.” Despite fully withdrawing its forces from the city earlier this year in keeping with the recently concluded ceasefire, the Kokang armed group retained control in many of the township’s village tracts. The military-controlled Union Election Commission of Myanmar has yet not issued any official statement confirming that elections will occur in village tracts controlled by MNDAA, including the nine tracts identified by local sources. There has also been no official statement from the MNDAA regarding the holding of elections in areas under their control. “The Kokang side asked for household lists for elections, so we had to provide them,” a man living in Hkay Nin village tract said. “Not many households gave their information. We don’t know where the vote will be held.” A campaign sign for the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (White Tiger Party), one of a limited number of parties the Myanmar junta has allowed to compete in the upcoming elections, seen in Hsipaw Township in November (Photo: Sai Kaung Thet San) The junta has announced that the election will be held in three phases, each two weeks apart, with the first phase scheduled for December 28 and the last near the end of January. Around 100 townships will participate in each phase. Lashio and Nawnghkio, another town in northern Shan State recently retaken by the junta, are among the jurisdictions to be included in Phase 1, with elections to be held in other recently recaptured northern Shan State towns like Hsipaw and Kyaukme on the Phase 3 date. There were over 220,000 eligible voters in Lashio Township, with 145 polling stations operating in all city wards and village tracts, in the 2020 elections under the civilian-led National League for Democracy (NLD) government. The predicted number of voters participating in the upcoming elections will be closer to 120,000, according to political party-connected sources, with around 60 polling stations operating across 12 wards and 10 village tracts in the township. Locals confirmed that election-related activities are not especially visible in Lashio even as the first phase of voting approaches. The parties permitted to compete in the 2025-26 junta-run elections include the military’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party; the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, also known as the White Tiger Party; the People's Party; the Kokang Democracy and Unity Party; the People's Pioneer Party; and the Wa National Party. The ousted NLD party—along with others that competed in the 2020 election such as the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) or Tiger Head Party—will not field candidates after the junta altered party registration requirements in 2023 and barred them from competing. “People aren't very interested,” a resident of Lashio’s Ward 5 said of the upcoming, junta-managed election. “They don’t even know who’s standing. There are signboards at intersections, but we don’t see many campaign speeches or shows.” Residents of Muse, a major trade hub on northern Shan State’s border with China, also said they had not seen much activity in preparation for the vote. “Since Muse is a border town, people are only interested in business,” a resident said. “Here, there’s not much campaigning by parties like in previous years. Only the USDP and White Tiger Party hold rallies for their members.” Locals said the same in Tangyan, a town jointly administered by junta authorities and United Wa State Army forces. “In the past, when the Tiger Head Party was campaigning, they were everywhere in villages. Now we don’t see anything like that. We don’t even really know who's competing," a woman from Tangyan said. The NLD, SNLD, and Ta’ang National Party won most of the constituencies in northern Shan State in the 2020 elections, which were followed by the 2021 military coup three months later.

Villages under Kokang Army control in Lashio Township prepare for elections

After agreeing to a ceasefire with the military junta, the ethnic armed group Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) is overseeing arrangements for the upcoming military-run polling outside northern Shan State’s junta-controlled capital

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