Still, some members of the country’s dwindling opposition said they were determined to make their voices heard. Ko Ko Gyi, a veteran pro-democracy activist, who is running for a seat in Yangon under the People’s Party, acknowledged that there were issues with the elections, but he said they were the most pragmatic way forward. “What’s the better alternative?” he asked.
“Whether we like it or not, we cannot move the military out of politics.”
Military personnel on the streets in Yangon. Credit: Getty Images
Like several others, Ko Ko Gyi said the vote could result in a parliament with enough authority, while still limited, to divert some power away from Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the army’s commander in chief.
Amara Thiha, a non-resident fellow with the Stimson Centre, said the election could bring incremental change to Myanmar.
“Everyone is already fatigued, even the SAC,” he said, referring to the State Administration Council, the official name of the junta. “Nothing can be worse than this.”
But others in the opposition have condemned any participation in Sunday’s voting, saying it contributes to a democratic veneer. Many have called it a sham election. The National Unity Government, Myanmar’s shadow government in exile, has said that officials, poll workers or candidates participating in this election are collaborating with “the enemy of the state”. The National League for Democracy, the party of the jailed Suu Kyi, has consistently said it will boycott the elections.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the army’s commander in chief, casts his vote.Credit: AP
In the hours before the polls opened, social media footage showed an explosion at a USDP office in Myawaddy. One person was killed and at least a dozen others were injured, according to a local official in Myawaddy. In the city of Mandalay, there was a similar incident at a polling station, according to the city’s chief minister.
In Naypyidaw, the country’s capital, Min Aung Hlaing emerged grinning after casting his ballot, showing off his left pinky finger dyed purple as a sign of having voted.
“We can confidently guarantee that the election is free and fair because it is being carried out by the military,” he said. “Our military will not allow its reputation to be tarnished.”
Few people believe that. Many people in Myanmar interviewed before the vote said they had decided not to participate.
A man holds up his finger, marked with ink to indicate he voted.Credit: AP
“I don’t think this is an election that I should vote in,” said Kyaw Saw Han, an independent analyst based in Yangon, the country’s commercial capital. “It will be old wines in new bottles.”
The polls have been widely condemned by many governments in the West, though notably not the Trump administration, which said plans for “free and fair elections” represented progress for the country. Ballots will be cast only in areas under military control, estimated to be less than half of the country’s territory.
Regardless of how the election pans out, people hope that living conditions in the country of more than 50 million may soon start to improve. Since 2020, Myanmar’s economy has contracted by 9 per cent. To fund its war efforts, the military has printed an estimated 30 trillion kyat ($21.3 billion), causing inflation to soar to 34 per cent. Basic food items like eggs and cooking oil are now unaffordable for the average family.
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The army also has launched brutal airstrikes against its citizens. Over 3.5 million people are internally displaced. Major cities like Yangon have had to manage with only eight hours of power per day. Health experts now say diseases such as malaria could spread across Myanmar’s borders.
Kyaw Min Htet, 30, who is running for parliament in the Yangon region with the People’s Pioneer Party, whose plan for the country is “reconstruction, rehabilitation and recovery”, said that after the coup, many of his friends had taken up arms against the junta, but all that brought was the targeting of civilian and the destruction of villages and infrastructure.
“I don’t believe that armed revolution is the right thing,” he said.
His colleague, Htet Htet Soe Oo, 34, joined the party three months ago and is running as a candidate for the lower house. She said she had decided to run because there was more power in working as a party than as an individual.
“We should stop arguing,” Htet Htet Soe Oo said. “What we need is dialogue and negotiation.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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