# Myanmar junta’s promise of elections denounced as ‘sham’ by experts

There are fears military will deploy further violence in run-up to any poll, which is unlikely to be viewed as credible.

The  military’s promise to hold elections in December 2025 or January 2026 has been condemned as a “sham” that risks bringing even greater violence.

Myanmar’s military junta announced on Saturday, in comments reported in state media, that it would hold a long-promised election, specifying a timeframe for the first time since seizing power in a 2021 coup.

The coup was widely opposed by the public and prompted an armed resistance, plunging much of the country into conflict.

China, an ally of the military that has sought to protect its economic investments in the country, has previously expressed support for the election plans. However, most western countries and election watchdogs are highly unlikely to view the vote as credible.

Opposition parties are mostly either banned from contesting or boycott elections, while almost 22,000 political prisoners remain in detention, according to a local monitoring group, including Aung San Suu Kyi, whose government was ousted in 2021. Her party, National League for Democracy (NLD), was dissolved for failing to re-register under an electoral law introduced after the coup.

The junta’s leader, Min Aung Hlaing, has long promised to hold an election but has repeatedly extended a state of emergency. The junta-controlled Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper quoted the leader as saying during a visit to Belarus: “We are planning to hold the election in December 2025 or … by January 2026.” He added that 53 political parties had registered to participate.

The military would also invite teams from Belarus to observe the election, he said during a meeting with the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power for more than three decades, and  in a vote that was widely rejected as a sham.

Chin Human Rights Organization, a human rights NGO, said on social media that western democratic countries “must send a clear, unequivocal message by pre-emptively denouncing the junta’s polls”.

Debbie Stothard, the founder of Altsean-Burma, a network of human rights organizations in south-east Asia, said there was concern that the election would bring even greater bloodshed. “We can see already preparation for the election has involved a sharp spike in violence – 2024 saw more airstrikes than 2021, 2022 and 2023 combined. We’ve seen areas that are not reachable by the junta being bombarded with airstrikes – they are literally trying to kill off the opposition,” she said.

A joint statement by election experts, published by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance in February, said they “unequivocally reject” plans by Myanmar’s junta to hold an election.

A vote would not bring peace or stability to Myanmar, the statement added, but would “deepen divisions, fuel violence, entrench authoritarian rule and exacerbate the crisis caused by the military coup”.

Foreign ministers from the regional bloc of south-east Asian nations also told the junta in January that it should prioritise a ceasefire over fresh elections.

The junta’s leader, Min Aung Hlaing, has long promised to hold an election but has repeatedly extended a state of emergency. The junta-controlled Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper quoted the leader as saying during a visit to Belarus: “We are planning to hold the election in December 2025 or … by January 2026.” He added that 53 political parties had registered to participate.

The military would also invite teams from Belarus to observe the election, he said during a meeting with the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power for more than three decades, and  in a vote that was widely rejected as a sham.
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