Voters in final phase of Myanmar military-run elections feel ‘coerced’

Residents of Mandalay Region told DVB that regime leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing visited polling stations in Chanmyathazi Township during the third and final round of voting in the military’s 2025-26 elections on Sunday.

“We don’t care if foreign countries recognize the elections or not. We recognize that people cast ballots,” Min Aung Hlaing said in response to a question from pro-regime media. Chanmyathazi is located three miles (4.8 km) southeast of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city.

A resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity that regime authorities set up roadblocks and checkpoints in Mandalay during Min Aung Hlaing’s visit. Residents in Yangon Region reported feeling pressured to vote while Min Aung Hlaing visited polling stations in three Yangon townships on Jan. 11.

Htin Kyaw Aye, an independent Myanmar election analyst, told DVB that Min Aung Hlaing’s visit to polling stations was an effort to coerce voters to cast ballots for the military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

The military’s Union Election Commission (UEC) released preliminary results that showed the USDP winning 52 out of 78 seats in the Amyotha Hluttaw, or upper house of parliament, and 175 seats out of 202 seats in the Pyithu Hluttaw, or lower house of parliament, after voting in 202 of Myanmar’s 330 townships on Dec. 28 and Jan. 11.

The third and final round of voting was held in eight Mandalay townships, including Myittha, Chanmyathazi, Mahlaing, Taungtha, Myingyan, Ngazun, Thabeikkyin and Patheingyi. The UEC held two rounds of voting in 17 out of Mandalay’s 28 townships. It is unable to hold elections in Singu, Natogyi and Mogok townships, due to “a lack of conditions to hold free-and-fair elections.”

Regime media reported on Jan. 25 that “observers” from Belarus, Cambodia, Nepal, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Nicaragua, and the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) monitored polling stations in Yangon’s Thaketa Township.

Residents of Yangon’s Lanmadaw Township told DVB that regime administration officials “forced” them to vote on Jan. 25. “We heard rumors that those who didn’t vote would be banned from traveling abroad and turned back at the airport,” a Yangon resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity.

Former political prisoner and 88 Generation Students leader Ko Ko Gyi, the founder and chairperson of the People’s Party, is contesting a seat in Lanmadaw for the Pyithu Hluttaw.

The UEC reported it has held polls on Jan. 25 in 17 Yangon townships, including Thaketa, Tamwe, Dagon Seikkan, East Dagon Myothit, Lanmadaw, Sanchaung, North Okkalapa, Kayan, Thonegwa, East Hlaingthaya, West Hlaingthaya, Seikkyi Kanaungto, Yankin, Kyauktan, Mingalar Taungnyunt, Dala and Dagon townships.

All 45 townships in Yangon Region hosted polls for the military elections, according to the UEC.

“[Regime officials] told us those who don’t vote will be deemed supporting rebels and prosecuted,” a resident of Danubyu Township in Ayeyarwady Region told DVB on the condition of anonymity. Danubyu is located 80 miles (128 km) northeast of the region’s capital Pathein and 68 miles (109 km) northwest of Yangon.

The UEC held the final round of voting on Jan. 25 in nine Ayeyarwady townships, including Yekyi, Ngapudaw, Daydaye, Nyaungdon, Danubyu, Ingapu, Mawlamyaing Kyun, Zalun and Lemyethna of Ayeyarwady Region.

All 26 townships in Ayeyarwady Region hosted polls for the military elections, according to the UEC.