HRM says Myanmar elections fail international standards

Mizzima

Myanmar’s military-organised elections fail to meet basic international legal standards and cannot be considered genuine polls, a new report by Human Rights Myanmar (HRM) released on 26 January said.

The assessment by HRM stated that the vote breached five core principles required for legitimate elections under international human rights law. These include freedom of choice, universal suffrage and equality of the ballot.

The report evaluates the process against General Comment No. 25 of the UN Human Rights Committee, which outlines minimum criteria for credible elections.

The report acknowledged that while Myanmar has not ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the standards within reflect binding principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

According to the report, genuine political competition was impossible due to the dissolution of major opposition parties, including the National League for Democracy (NLD) – the winer of the 2020 election.

Prominent opposition leaders, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, remain jailed or in exile, preventing voters from choosing among competing political alternatives.

The analysis also documents widespread coercion, alleging that the junta pressured civil servants, factory workers and displaced people to vote. This occurred through threats of job loss, loss of aid or military conscription. Polling stations were heavily militarised, undermining ballot secrecy, it said.

Millions were disenfranchised by ongoing conflict, with voting cancelled in at least 65 townships and no special provisions made for an estimated 3.5 million internally displaced people. Long-standing citizenship restrictions were also cited as excluding the Rohingya from participation.

Where voting did take place, the report said, equal suffrage was structurally impossible because Myanmar’s 2008 constitution reserves 25 percent of parliamentary seats for unelected military appointees, ensuring continued dominance by the armed forces regardless of the outcome.

In addition, the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party dominated the vote.

Human Rights Myanmar urged international governments to refuse recognition of the results, downgrade diplomatic engagement and expand targeted sanctions. They warned that accepting the process would “abandon the core principles of international law”.