Voter turnout lower than expected in Myanmar’s first election since 2020

Voter turnout has been lower than expected in Myanmar for the first elections since the military overthrew a democratically elected government in 2021.

Myanmar’s multi-phase, month-long election has been widely dismissed as a sham by many governments and human rights activists who have said the military will use proxy candidates to legitimise its rule.

Initial reports from Sunday’s poll suggested that voter turnout was significantly lower than in the last election in 2020, which was won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

The military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD government and has been waging a deadly war against resistance groups for four years.

More than 3 million people have been displaced, and tens of thousands have been killed, according to conflict monitors.