Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing has begun openly campaigning for the military’s proxy party, urging voters to back “security-minded” candidates as his regime pushes ahead with a widely discredited election.
On Saturday, Min Aung Hlaing traveled to the Coco Islands, a Yangon Region constituency long dominated by retired military officers, where he told local officers and their families to cast their ballots only for candidates who prioritize national defense.
His remarks came as reports circulated that junta Prime Minister Nyo Saw, a Min Aung Hlaing loyalist and former lieutenant general, would contest the December election in Cocokyun Township, which comprises the Coco Islands.
Nyo Saw, a graduate of the Defense Services Academy’s 23rd intake, is also chairman of military-owned conglomerate Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd and an advisor to Min Aung Hlaing.
The Coco Islands have historically been a stronghold for ex-military candidates running under the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) banner. These have included former navy commander U Aye Pe, who contested in 2010; ex-navy chief Thura Thet Swe in 2015; and former deputy defense minister ex-Major General Aung Thaw—a DSA classmate of Min Aung Hlaing—in 2020.
The constituency has fewer than 1,000 residents, most of them military families and government staff, making it a reliable base for the USDP.
While Min Aung Hlaing has previously framed elections in terms of choosing candidates who truly “serve the national interest,” his recent speeches have shifted toward emphasizing loyalty to the military’s “three main national causes”—non-disintegration of the Union, non-disintegration of national solidarity, and perpetuation of sovereignty.
The “three causes” are widely dismissed in Myanmar as decades-old indoctrination used to justify the military’s domination in politics and to portray itself as the sole guardian of the state.
Analysts say his appeals amount to direct campaigning for the USDP, which is expected to dominate the upcoming polls in the absence of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and other popular parties that have been dissolved by the regime. The junta has deployed senior officers, including lieutenant generals, to contest on the USDP ticket.
On Sunday, Min Aung Hlaing also visited Pathein, the Ayeyarwady Region capital, where he repeated his call for voters to choose candidates with a “security outlook.”
Campaigning will run from Oct. 28 to Dec. 26. Over 5,000 candidates have registered for the voting, and the USDP will field the largest number of candidates, followed by the National Unity Party and Thet Thet Khine’s People’s Pioneer Party.
Western governments, including the United States and the European Union, along with the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) and ethnic armed groups, have long dismissed the junta’s planned election as neither free nor fair. The EU recently confirmed it would not send observers, citing a lack of credibility.
