Myanmar’s first phase of long-delayed elections is scheduled for December 28 amid ongoing conflict

Myanmar intends to hold its first round of general elections on December 28.

Myanmar will hold its first elections in almost five years on December 28, state television said Monday, with the first phase of the long-delayed general election will begin on that date. International criticism of the poll, however, has already been voiced, with many people discounting it as an attempt by the ruling junta to consolidate its hold on power.

The Union Election Commission said more voting phases will be held in December and January; dates will be announced later for security concerns. 55 political parties have registered to run, according to state media, but just nine of them intend to do so nationally, and six more are still being considered.

The announcement is made as Myanmar is still experiencing unrest in the wake of the military coup in 2021 that overthrew the elected civilian government headed by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Armed opposition groups, many of whom have been prohibited from voting or have opted to boycott the elections, have since fiercely opposed military leader Min Aung Hlaing’s government.

The elections are expected to be controlled by proxies and parties with ties to the military, according to Western governments and human rights organizations, which have already called them a fraud. A recently formed interim government has promised to hold elections in over 300 constituencies, including several that are currently occupied by anti-junta armed factions.

Conflict has also made it more difficult to prepare voter rolls. In the prior year’s nationwide census, just 145 out of Myanmar’s 330 townships were counted. By claiming that there was fraud in the November 2020 elections, which Suu Kyi’s now-defunct party won by a landslide, the military continues to defend its February 2021 takeover of power. International observers, however, did not discover any indications of anomalies that might have changed the outcome.

The next elections are commonly perceived as an examination of the junta’s capacity to portray legitimacy both domestically and internationally, despite the ongoing repression and strife in the nation.