Eight months since earthquake with survivors expected to face threat of electoral violence at polls

Regime employees told DVB that they don’t want to participate in the regime’s 2025–26 elections after being assigned to help guard polling stations during voting on Dec. 28, Jan. 11 and Jan. 25, 2026.

“I lost my husband and son just eight months ago in the earthquake. I’m still mourning them every day. I’m not interested in the elections,” a staff member at the regime’s Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, who lives in Naypyidaw, told DVB on the condition of anonymity after being assigned to a polling station in the capital on election day.

A 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit central Myanmar on March 28 with its epicenter in Sagaing Region. Mandalay, Bago, Magway, Naypyidaw and southern Shan State were five of the six hardest hit regions.

The quake killed at least 4,477 people nationwide, according to DVB data. The regime death toll is 3,773 killed with 653 survivors rescued from the rubble of collapsed buildings.