Why is Myanmar’s regime holding an election during a civil war?

Myanmar’s military regime will hold a multi-phased general election starting on Sunday, even as a civil war rages across large parts of the Southeast Asian country.

Why is Myanmar holding an election?

The military ousted the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in a February 2021 coup, just as it was preparing for its second term in office following a landslide election win months earlier.

The generals accused Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party of electoral fraud, which she rejected. International election monitors reported no irregularities. Suu Kyi and much of the NLD were detained along with thousands of junta opponents.

The junta pledged to hold an election by August 2023 and restore a democratic system but that was pushed back as the military lost control of swathes of the country in its battles with ethnic minority rebels and anti-junta militias.