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yesterday

Myanmar Junta Concludes First Phase of Disputed Election as Violence and Arrests Mark Polling

Rights groups including the UN call the staged vote illegitimate, citing wartime repression plus sweeping prosecutions.

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A trishaw driver sits and reads a newspaper reporting on Myanmar's general election in Yangon on December 29, 2025. Voters trickled to Myanmar's heavily restricted polls on December 28, with the ruling junta touting the exercise as a return to democracy five years after it ousted the last elected government and triggered a civil war. (Photo by Nhac NGUYEN / AFP via Getty Images)
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Myanmar electoral officers count early voting ballots after closing the first phase of the general election at a polling station in the capital Naypyidaw on Sunday. Photo: EPA

Overview

  • Polling for the first of three voting rounds closed Sunday with reports of explosions and air strikes in multiple regions, including injuries in Mandalay and a child reported dead in Myawaddy.
  • More than 200 people have been charged under a new election law that criminalizes opposition to the vote, with a film director, an actor and a comedian each sentenced to seven years after criticizing pro‑election media.
  • The National League for Democracy has been dissolved, Aung San Suu Kyi remains imprisoned, and authorities listed broad areas where no balloting would be held due to ongoing conflict.
  • UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews urged governments to reject the process, while China, Russia and India sent observers as state media showcased lines in Naypyidaw and residents reported sparse turnout in Yangon.
  • Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing defended the polls as free and fair and cautioned nonvoters, with two further phases slated for January as analysts predict a military‑aligned USDP victory to entrench junta control.