Political parties registered with the junta’s election body fear that the upcoming vote will be boycotted by a public still in open revolt against military rule.
“We, the People’s Pioneer Party, implore all people to participate in the 2025 general so that it succeeds,” chairwoman Thet Thet Khaing told a press conference at Yangon’s Sedona hotel last week.
The military regime has promised a national poll in December, despite losing control of most of the country outside the heartlands and major cities. The junta admitted its pre-election census was unable to count 19 million out of Myanmar’s population of 51 million.
The regime has repeatedly promised a poll since seizing power in 2021, citing fraud in the previous year’s general election, despite local and international observers describing it as free and fair. After jailing Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government, it dissolved the party along with around 40 other political outfits.
The junta finally announced a date for the poll in March, stating it would be held in phases through December and January – but offered no details on constituencies or election laws.
“Elections are best when the public votes because they should reflect the people’s will,” said Than Than Nu, chairwoman of the Democratic Party, which has also registered with the junta’s election body. “I have no concerns about opposition [to the poll]. However, voter turnout may decline depending on circumstances such as security conditions or earthquakes.”
Mandalay, Sagaing and Naypyitaw suffered widespread destruction in the 7.7-magnitude earthquake on March 28. The regime is facing flak for sluggish relief efforts, which have left earthquake victims homeless and cities still strewn with rubble more than a month after the quake.
Mandalay and Naypyitaw are among the few places in the country where the regime still has near 100 percent control.
According to the NLD’s Union Election Commission, more than 70 percent of the country’s 37 million-plus eligible voters cast ballots in the 2020 election. Some 90 political parties took part in the poll.
Of the 77 parties that have registered with the junta’s election body to contest the December poll, 54 have been approved so far.
Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing has called on opposition forces to cooperate in the election. “If you want a multi-party democracy, don’t obstruct us. All we need is cooperation,” he told junta-controlled media on his return from Russia and Belarus in early March.
Sai Aik Pao, chairman of the Shan and Nationalities Democratic Party, previously the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party – one of the two major ethnic Shan parties – said the election would succeed even if only one person voted.
“There is no legal provision for the minimum number of voters needed for the poll to succeed. All it needs is for one individual to cast their vote in a constituency. So, I urge citizens to vote for the party they support,” he said.
Registered political parties claim the election will result in a civilian government.
Meanwhile, the regime has ramped up airstrikes in resistance-held territory across the country, culminating in an attack that killed 22 children in a Sagaing school last week.
Colonel Saw Kyaw Nyunt, spokesman of the Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council, said the group is concerned that poll would give rise to further conflicts. The group is a signatory to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement.
“Given that people hold diverse views on elections, and stability in the region is relatively low, we are concerned that elections might spark new disputes between groups who hold different views,” he said.
The poll plan has been condemned by western countries, the civilian National Unity Government and other anti-regime groups, and pro-democracy parties as a sham to maintain the regime’s grip on power. However, registered political parties – most of whom won few or no seats in 2020 – insist that a fresh election is the only solution to end turmoil that has gripped Myanmar since the coup. They add that by opposing the poll, voters would effectively be accepting military rule.
U Aung Moe Zaw, chairman of the Democratic Party for a New Society – a onetime ally of the NLD – said the poll would not solve Myanmar’s crisis.
“If [registered] political parties believe that the problems facing our country will be solved merely by holding an election, they are wrong. What is certain is that this election will invite bloodshed. There will undoubtedly be violence. Once the poll is over, they will realize that it has not resolved the country’s issues. The problems will persist – everyone knows this, yet political parties seem oblivious, which I find baffling.
“In addition, the current situation is not conducive for holding an election. The political parties insist that it is. I do not consider these parties as truly democratic political parties.”
