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The Myanmar Junta announced that the election it planned to hold in December and January would take place in four phases, marking the first time that the army described a specific calendar for controversial vote.
The junta said in early March that the elections were scheduled for December 2025 with the possibility of January 2026, but that the observers rejected its plan, claiming that the military could not hold the vote in territory that it does not control – about half of the country – and that the public will consider the results as a imposture.
“A provisional date for the elections takes place the third week and the fourth week of December this year and the first week and the second week of January,” the office of the defense services in a statement said on Wednesday, adding that the elections would take place in four parts.
“The government must take advanced measures to organize a general election of multi-party democracy without fraud which is really free and fair,” he added, without developing.
Since the 2021 coup, the junta has repeatedly tried to keep elections, but these efforts have been constantly delayed.
The military regime has repeatedly extended the state of emergency in the past four years, citing alleged fraud in the 2020 general elections, during which the National League for Democracy won a decisive victory.
By publishing consecutive emergency declarations, the junta has effectively postponed the electoral process, extending its grip on power.
Signs of progress towards the elections have emerged in recent months while the head of the Myanmar junta went abroad to obtain international support.
After diplomatic visits to Russia and Belarus in March, the two countries promised to support the controversial electoral plan of the junta.
They join India and China, which have also expressed their support for the isolated nation’s electoral process, despite the military regime’s decision to prohibit certain political parties from re -registering due to alleged ties with rebel militias.
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But observers, including human rights groups and managers of the national league ousted for the government of democracy, question the legitimacy of the elections led by the junta after an opaque census of the military who killed dozens and large parts of the country.
Generalized violence in besieged areas, coupled with almost daily air strikes in the Myanmar army which often target civilians, also leave many skeptics about the feasibility of the elections.
The groups of insurgents now control large expanses of the country’s border areas, leaving areas like Rakhine and the states of Shan under uncertain jurisdiction with a minimum presence of Junta.
Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by Tajun Kang.