The parts of Myanmar the military junta doesn’t want you to see

As voters snaked around Mandalay’s golden Eain Daw Yar Pagoda to cast their ballots, a low-flying fighter jet whizzed above them, heading towards the city’s south-west.

On the ground, security personnel wearing traditional clothing and dark sunglasses, kept a close eye on foreign journalists and the few voters and officials who dared to speak to them.

At night, rocket explosions echoed in the distance, and news filtered in of savage aerial attacks on nearby villages held by rebel militia — a jarring reminder of the brutal civil war still engulfing vast swathes of this country.

In Myanmar, this is what the China-backed junta calls a free and fair election.

More than 100 townships went to the polls on Dec. 28, in the country’s first election since the military overthrew the democratically elected government of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

They put her in jail on accusations of election fraud and disbanded her popular National League for Democracy (NLD) party.