Burma Junta’s Strategy to Legitimize Military Rule Through Elections

Antonio Graceffo

The Burma junta is preparing to hold general elections in an attempt to legitimize its rule before international observers. Scheduled to begin on December 28, 2025, the vote will unfold in four phases through January 2026. The first phase will cover 102 townships mostly under military control, while 121 constituencies, including 56 entire townships, will be excluded. In total, elections are planned in over 270 townships out of 330, even though the junta controls less than half of Burma’s territory, with some estimates placing control at only 21 percent.

The framework for the junta’s planned “civilian government” rests on the 2008 Constitution, which guarantees military dominance. It reserves 25 percent of parliamentary seats for the armed forces, requires the ministries of home, border affairs, and defense to be led by serving officers, and allows the military to appoint one of the country’s two vice presidents. The National Defense and Security Council can impose martial law, disband parliament, and assume direct rule during a state of emergency. The junta also replaced the first-past-the-post electoral system with proportional representation, allowing it to maintain power with just over one-third of the popular vote when combined with its constitutionally reserved seats.

In October 2024, the junta conducted a nationwide census, claiming it was to compile voter lists. In reality, it functioned as a counterinsurgency tool to identify opposition activists and conscript recruits. The questionnaire contained 68 questions, far more than the 6 to 10 typically required for electoral purposes.

Officials later admitted the census was completed in only 145 of Burma’s 330 townships, less than half the country.

The junta has manipulated the electoral process through restrictive legislation. In January 2023, it enacted the Political Parties Registration Law, raising membership requirements from 1,000 to 100,000 and mandating party funds of at least 100 million kyats (about $45,000). Parties had 60 days to re-register or face dissolution. The National League for Democracy (NLD) and 39 other parties were dissolved in March 2023 for missing the deadline, while many others suspected of ties to resistance groups were banned outright. The law also bars anyone previously convicted of a crime from joining a political party, effectively excluding opposition leaders such as Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, both serving politically-motivated sentences. More than 22,000 political prisoners remain detained and barred from participating in the election.