World Desk

Myanmar’s military-appointed Union Election Commission announced on Monday that long-delayed national elections will begin on December 28, despite widespread armed conflict and strong criticism that the polls are designed to legitimize the military’s 2021 coup.

In a statement shared with the media, the commission said the election will be held in multiple phases, with a complete schedule to be released soon. A separate notice published earlier in the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper confirmed that all 330 townships have been designated as constituencies.

Nearly 60 political parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, have registered to participate, according to the commission’s website.

However, questions remain over the feasibility of holding elections in areas currently controlled by anti-junta resistance groups and ethnic armed organizations. Much of the country is embroiled in civil war, and the military is believed to control less than half the territory.

Several opposition groups have already vowed to disrupt the planned vote. The regime recently enacted a controversial election law, which includes harsh penalties—up to the death sentence—for anyone attempting to oppose or obstruct the elections.

Observers and critics have dismissed the upcoming polls as neither free nor fair, citing a lack of independent media, mass arrests of political opponents, and the dissolution of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD)—the party that won the 2020 election in a landslide.

The military seized power in February 2021, just as the NLD was preparing to begin a second term. Suu Kyi, now 80, is serving a combined 27-year prison sentence following a series of trials widely condemned as politically motivated.

The military claimed electoral fraud in the 2020 vote to justify its coup, though international observers found no evidence of significant irregularities.

While the junta has repeatedly claimed that holding elections is a priority, it has continued to postpone the date due to the worsening security situation. The elections are now expected to take place only in areas under firm military control.

Ahead of the polls, the regime has intensified military operations—including ground assaults and airstrikes—in an effort to retake territory held by opposition forces. Human rights groups report a sharp rise in civilian casualties.

On Sunday, at least 24 people were reportedly killed in an airstrike on a hospital in Mawchi, a town in Kayah (Karenni) State known for its wolfram and tungsten mines. Separately, at least 21 people—including a pregnant woman—died in an airstrike on Mogok, the center of Myanmar’s gem-mining industry, last Thursday, according to multiple sources.

The military has not confirmed the incidents but typically claims that its operations only target insurgents, labeling resistance fighters as terrorists.