YANGON, Myanmar: Voting began Sunday (Dec 28) in Myanmar’s heavily restricted polls, with the ruling junta touting the exercise as a return to democracy five years after it ousted the last elected government, triggering civil war.
Former civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains jailed and her hugely popular party dissolved after soldiers ended a decade-long democratic experiment in February 2021.
Campaigners, Western diplomats and the UN’s rights chief have all condemned the phased month-long vote, citing a ballot stacked with military allies and a stark crackdown on dissent.
The pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party is widely expected to emerge as the largest one, in what critics say would be a rebranding of martial rule.
The Southeast Asian nation of around 50 million is riven by civil war and there will be no voting in rebel-held areas.
In junta-controlled territory, the first of three rounds started at 6am (7.30am, Singapore time), including in constituencies in the cities of Yangon, Mandalay and the capital Naypyidaw.
An AFP journalist saw a polling station open around dawn in Yangon’s Kamayut Township, near Suu Kyi’s vacant home.
In downtown Yangon, stations were cordoned off overnight with security staff posted outside, while armed officers guarded traffic intersections.
