Myanmar regime admits election won’t be nationwide, as war continues

Myanmar regime leader Min Aung Hlaing acknowledged on Wednesday that Naypyidaw will be unable to conduct an upcoming general election across the entire country, as a civil war triggered by a 2021 military coup rages on.

Critics and many Western nations view the regime elections, scheduled to begin on Dec. 28–the first since the 2021 coup ousted the National League for Democracy (NLD) government led by Aung San Suu Kyi–as a sham exercise to legitimize the military’s rule via a proxy political party called the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

Dozens of anti-regime parties are either banned or refusing to take part. The NLD was dissolved by the regime’s Union Election Commission (UEC) in 2023 for failing to re-register following the coup that overturned the 2020 elections, which the NLD won in a landslide victory over the military-backed USDP.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the 2021 coup, which triggered a nationwide uprising against the regime that has seen large swathes of territory seized by anti-regime armed groups.