Myanmar’s dominant pro-military party is “winning a majority” in the first phase of junta-run elections, a party source said yesterday, after democracy watchdogs warned the poll would entrench military rule.
The armed forces snatched power in a 2021 coup, but on Sunday opened voting in a phased month-long election they pledge would return power to the people.
The massively popular but dissolved party of democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi did not appear on ballots, and she remains jailed since the military putsch which triggered a civil war.
Photo: AFP
Campaigners, Western diplomats and the UN rights chief have condemned the vote — citing a stark crackdown on dissent and a candidate list stacked with military allies.
“The USDP [Union Solidarity and Development Party] is winning a majority of seats around the country according to different reports,” a party official said in the capital Naypyidaw, requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Official results have yet to be posted by Burmese Union Election Commission and there are two more phases scheduled for Jan. 11 and 25.
The military overturned the results of the last poll in 2020 after Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, trounced the USDP.
The military and USDP then alleged massive voter fraud, claims which international monitors say were unfounded.
However, on Sunday military chief Min Aung Hlaing said the armed forces could be trusted to hand back power to a civilian-led government.
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