News About Myanmar

The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has claimed sweeping victories in the first phase of Myanmar’s junta-organised elections, even as official results have yet to be released. The announced outcome—which few say was ever in doubt—comes after polls closed on Sunday evening in 102 townships under firm regime control. Large parts of the country were excluded due to ongoing fighting, and sources told Myanmar Now that turnout in major cities, includin

Fewer than 1,000 voters turned out at each polling station in Myawaddy Township, Karen State, during Phase 1 of the junta-led election on December 28, sources said. According to a statement from the junta-controlled Election Commission, 24 polling stations have been set up across seven downtown wards and village tracts including Pulweipu, Phakalu, Mekanei, and Mepaleit in Myawaddy Township, where more than 60,000 voters are eligible. On average, each polling station had betwe

Mizzima As part of the Myanmar media collaboration with Thai PBS in Chiang Mai, Thailand on Sunday, panelists discussed what may come of the Myanmar junta’s election. The following is a transcript of the discussion: Myanmar’s Sham Election: Why the Junta Wants It—and What Comes Next Moderator/Facilitator: Kyaw Zwa Moe, Executive Editor, The Irrawaddy Panelist: Htin Kyaw Aye, Executive Director, Spring Sprouts Panelist: Dr. Surachanee Sriyai (Hammer

Security was tight and streets were unusually quiet across Myanmar’s second largest city Mandalay on election day after a resistance rocket attack overnight, locals report. In the two city townships of Chanayethazan and Aungmyaythazan where the first-phase vote was being held on Sunday, many shops were shuttered and homes locked. “Turnout was moderate in the morning,” one resident told The Irrawaddy. “By afternoon it thinned out, and many stations closed by 4 p.m.”

The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), which returned control of the city of Lashio to the military this year, did not allow ballots to be cast in the nearby village tracts it continues to hold

The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M), an independent group of international human rights experts, urged the international community to reject the regime’s 2025–26 elections on Monday, claiming that it lacks any legitimacy as voting continues into January 2026 amid a civil war and humanitarian crisis exacerbated by the March 28 earthquake. “The idea that junta leader Min Aung Hlaing is a nascent democrat is beyond absurd,” said Ben Lee, the SAC-M executive director