Fear and distrust are spreading in Myamar as the junta’s election looms amid signs that it will mean yet more harassment, surveillance, and oppression of ordinary citizens.
The junta has announced that it will hold phased elections on Dec. 28 and in January.
In late July, the regime imposed new election laws that include harsh penalties for opposing the polls, which have been widely denounced as a sham designed to entrench military rule.
They already claimed their first victim when a current affairs blogger in Taunggyi, southern Shan State, was sentenced to seven years in jail for allegedly criticizing the election.
Two others are reportedly being prosecuted.
The regime also expanded the use of the Person Scrutinization and Monitoring System (PSMS), a digital surveillance tool developed with Chinese technical support, to monitor and arrest people who oppose their rule.
The new Election Security Law authorizes surveillance of domestic and international organizations during the election period, intelligence gathering, and prosecution.
It is being implemented by the heavyweight Central Committee for Security Oversight During the Multiparty General Election—chaired by the home affairs minister, with the deputy defense minister as vice chair, and the police chief as secretary.
To ordinary Myanmar citizens, that means keeping their heads down. A 58-year-old woman from Yangon’s Thaketa Township said she avoids posting anything about the election or even reacting to anti-election posts on social media for fear of being targeted.
But she added, “I won’t vote because I hate the junta.”
On the other hand, she worries that the regime might force people to cast their ballots. If that happens, she said, she would claim health reasons to avoid going to the polling station.
In Yangon’s downtown townships, the junta has been conducting nonstop demonstrations of the electronic voting machines it intends to use, and attendance is mandatory. Army patrol trucks, which had not been seen for some time, are again visible on the streets.
The junta’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has held meetings with nationalist groups, pro-military networks spreading hate speech and incitement to violence, and pro-regime media, urging them to help ensure the election succeeds. This has heightened fears among the people ahead of casting their “free” vote.
A housewife in Yangon said she worries that local administrators and those who met with the USDP could increase surveillance and monitoring of the public.
A taxi driver said, “We don’t dare to talk much about the election. Everyone is afraid. We heard someone was arrested just for criticizing the election online. That’s a warning to the rest of us.”
Although junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has recently promised Chinese investors that stability will follow the election, local business owners say uncertainty is getting worse. A realtor from Yangon’s Lanmadaw Township said she no longer has the confidence either to keep her money at home or to deposit it in banks.
“We don’t know what will happen as the election nears,” she said. “If something happens and the banks suddenly stop withdrawals, what will we do? Should we keep gold instead? My husband is already telling me to put the business on hold.”
A civil servant in Naypyitaw, which was badly damaged by the earthquake in March, said most government staff remain preoccupied with rebuilding their lives and have little time for the election. Most are still living in portakabins.
“People are too focused on their own hardships to care about voting,” he said.
Meanwhile, armed resistance groups have rejected the junta’s election as a trap designed to extend its rule and win legitimacy abroad. The shadow National Unity Government (NUG) has warned it will arrest anyone attempting to organize elections in areas under its control.
On Sunday, the junta admitted that the Dec. 28 first phase of the election cannot be held in 121 constituencies in 56 townships controlled by resistance forces, despite several massive counteroffensives to retake territory ahead of the vote.
A farmer in Magwe Region’s Pwintbyu Township—a resistance stronghold but one of the 102 townships still designated for the election’s first phase—said there is no sign of election activity.
“It won’t be easy here. The two sides are fighting,” he said.
Analysts predict that as the election approaches, there will be more arrests and clashes. The NUG says the election will only serve to consolidate the revolutionary forces and intensify the armed struggle.
Editor’s note: The story was updated on Sept. 16 to correct the number of the townships designated for the election’s first phase.
