HRW urges governments to reject Myanmar junta’s sham elections

Mizzima

On 16 November, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on foreign governments to reject the Myanmar junta’s plans to hold elections between December 2025 and January 2026, warning that the polls will be neither free, fair, nor inclusive.

The following is the text of HRW’s statement.

The junta announced that the first two phases of the multistage elections will take place on December 28 and January 11. Since the coup, the junta has banned dozens of political parties and jailed an estimated 30,000 political prisoners, including nearly 100 people detained under a draconian election law passed in July. Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the junta’s leader, has acknowledged that the elections will not be held in all townships, reflecting the widespread fighting with opposition armed groups characterized by the military’s war crimes.

“The Myanmar junta’s sham elections are a desperate bid for international legitimacy after nearly five years of brutal military repression,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Governments lending any credibility to these polls would signal a complete lack of support for rights-respecting civilian democratic rule in Myanmar.”

On July 29, the junta enacted the Law on the Prevention of Obstruction, Disruption, and Sabotage of Multiparty Democratic General Election, which criminalizes criticism of the election by banning all speech, organizing, or protest that disrupts any part of the electoral process. Violators can face up to 20 years in prison and the death penalty.

Junta authorities have arrested 94 people under the new law since August—including at least 4 children—for social media activity, distributing stickers and leaflets, delivering speeches, and other alleged acts of election “interference” and “disruption.” On September 9, a man was sentenced to seven years with hard labor in Taunggyi, Shan State, for a Facebook post criticizing the junta. On October 29, the filmmakers Zambu Htun Thet Lwin and Aung Chan Lu were arrested for “liking” a Facebook post that criticized an election propaganda film.

The authorities have detained nearly 2,000 people since February 2022 for online activity supporting the opposition or criticizing the military, part of the junta’s gutting of freedoms of speech, the press, and assembly.