Fortify Rights warns Myanmar’s election law Is criminalizing dissent

Mizzima

On 10 December, Fortify Rights issued a statement warning that Myanmar’s military junta is using its new Election Protection Law to silence critics and tighten repression ahead of the planned 28 December and 11 January sham elections.

The statement is as follows.

The junta has announced that the first two phases of its staged elections will be on December 28, 2025, and January 11, 2026. The junta’s “elections” are already unfree and unfair and therefore lack legitimacy—many of Myanmar’s legitimately elected officials, including Aung San Suu Kyi and members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), as well as leaders of ethnic political parties, continue to be held in illegal detention, and the right to freedom of expression and speech, and almost all pro-democracy activity, is outlawed in the country.

In recent months, the junta has used its new election decree—formally titled The Law on the Protection of Multiparty Democratic General Elections from Obstruction, Disruption, and Destruction—to target anyone who opposes its orchestrated “elections.” The law criminalizes criticism and any speech, organizing, or protest that could be construed as disrupting the “electoral process.” Violations carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison or the death penalty.