Generals, Regime Ministers Fill the Ballot in Myanmar Junta’s Sham Election

As candidate lists for Myanmar’s Dec. 28 election are released, three blocs have emerged on the political stage: the military‑backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), a cluster of smaller political outfits, and a range of ethnic parties. Yet the lineup is less a contest than a performance, staged by the junta to entrench its rule.

Despite the fact that the junta still has not been able to assert control over the whole country due to the nationwide armed resistance, the Union Election Commission (UEC), operating under the generals, has announced that the first phase of voting will take place in 102 of the country’s 330 townships on Dec. 28, with a second round scheduled for Jan. 11 in another 100 townships. Fifty‑six townships will be excluded altogether.

The polls are being organized only after the dissolution of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and other opposition parties, a move that strips the process of any genuine competition. Many Western governments and international bodies, including the UN and EU, have already declared that the elections cannot be free or fair. Inside Myanmar, the prevailing view is that the exercise is a sham—an attempt to cloak military dominance in the trappings of democracy.