Myanmar Junta Concludes First Phase of Legislative Elections Under Tight Controls

Overview

• Polling for the opening round finished Sunday in junta‑controlled districts of Yangon, Mandalay and Naypyidaw, with counting underway.
• Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing called the vote “free and just,” while the United Nations urged a credible, inclusive process and many governments question the exercise.
• Fighting kept large areas from voting, 65 of 330 lower‑house races were canceled, millions in rebel zones were excluded, and more than one million Rohingya refugees remain disenfranchised.
• The monthlong process unfolds in three rounds on December 28, January 11 and January 25 using new electronic voting machines that do not allow write‑ins or null ballots.
• With Aung San Suu Kyi jailed and the NLD dissolved, the military‑aligned USDP fields the largest slate under an election commission seen as army‑controlled, strict laws punish criticism, and few foreign observers attended, including a Belarusian delegation.