Myanmar’s military is set to cement its grip on power with what critics are calling a sham election, as the junta looks to gain a veneer of credibility after years of civil war that have ravaged the south-east Asian country.
The military, which came to power in a coup in 2021 after ousting Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s government, is holding a three-phase election that has been widely condemned as being tilted in its favour. The final round of voting is taking place on Sunday.
With Aung San Suu Kyi and other pro-democracy leaders imprisoned, opposition parties dissolved and under what the UN has described as an atmosphere of “fear, violence and mass repression”, the election results are a foregone conclusion — a win by a junta-backed political party.