The Myanmar Junta's Electoral Farce: A Desperate Gambit for Legitimacy Amidst Bloodshed

The Facts of the Junta’s Political Theater

Last week, the chief of Myanmar’s military junta, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, made a public appeal to the besieged nation. He urged voters to select candidates who would “work with the military” in an upcoming general election, scheduled to take place nearly five years after the February 2021 coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. This election, however, is a grotesque parody of democratic processes. Voting is slated to occur in only 202 of the country’s 330 townships, exclusively in areas where the military maintains some semblance of control, blatantly disenfranchising millions of citizens living in conflict zones. There has been no announcement regarding when results will be counted, adding to the opaque and manipulated nature of the entire exercise.

The military, which has dominated Myanmar’s politics since its independence from Britain in 1948, is attempting to use this election to solidify its illegitimate grip on power. Min Aung Hlaing seized control in 2021 based on unfounded allegations of electoral fraud against Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), which had won the previous two general elections in landslides. The NLD has since been dissolved, and the electoral field is now dominated by six parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which is expected to perform well in this deeply flawed process. Analysts like Sai Kyi Zin Soe suggest a national leader may emerge from the USDP, though it remains uncertain if that leader would be Min Aung Hlaing himself.

The Context: A Nation Engulfed in Conflict

To understand the sheer absurdity of this election, one must appreciate the context of unprecedented violence and civil war that currently ravages Myanmar. This is not the Myanmar of the 2010 elections, another military-managed process; the scale of armed resistance and popular dissent today is historically unparalleled. As noted by Ye Myo Hein of the Southeast Asia Peace Institute, these orchestrated elections are more likely to escalate violence than create any semblance of a stable political or economic environment. The country is fractured, with ethnic armed organizations and People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) controlling significant territory and actively resisting the junta’s rule.

The international dimension is equally critical. The elections represent a transparent attempt by the junta to gain a veneer of international legitimacy following widespread condemnation after the coup. While China has provided the junta with economic and diplomatic support, other actors are more circumspect. ASEAN, of which Myanmar is a member, has found re-engagement challenging. Thailand’s foreign minister correctly pointed out the fundamental problem: the lack of any inclusive political dialogue and the continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and thousands of other political prisoners. The United Nations and numerous human rights organizations have universally denounced the planned elections as a sham, lacking any fairness or credibility.

A Brutal Farce and an Affront to Sovereignty

This so-called election is not a step toward democracy; it is the final nail in the coffin of the military’s pretense of civilian rule. It is a brutal farce, a theatrical performance staged at gunpoint for an international audience that is largely not fooled. The junta’s insistence on proceeding with this charade, despite the country being engulfed in a civil war it itself ignited, is a testament to its profound desperation and its complete disconnect from the will of the Myanmar people. Min Aung Hlaing’s call for voters to choose pro-military candidates is the political equivalent of a robber demanding the combination to the safe—it is an order, not a choice, made under duress and threat of extreme violence.

The limited scope of the voting—confined to areas under military control—is a blatant admission of the junta’s weakness and illegitimacy. It is an attempt to create a fake mandate from a captive audience while ignoring the vast majority of the nation that rejects its rule. This tactic is straight from the playbook of colonial and imperial powers: create a puppet government, bless it with a staged election, and then claim domestic legitimacy to ward off foreign intervention. It is a strategy that has been employed for decades to undermine true self-determination in the Global South, and seeing it enacted so brazenly in Myanmar is utterly enraging.

The Complicity of the International Community

The response from the international community has been, predictably, pathetic and hypocritical. The West issues condemnations and expresses “deep concern” while continuing business interests that indirectly fund the junta. Their application of the “international rule of law” is, as always, selective and self-serving. Where is the forceful, coordinated action? Where are the crippling sanctions targeted not at the people of Myanmar, but at the junta’s financial networks and oil and gas enterprises that fill its war chest? The muted response exposes the hollow nature of Western humanitarian rhetoric, which is quickly abandoned when strategic or economic interests are not directly threatened.

China’s role is more pragmatic and equally cynical. While paying lip service to non-interference, Beijing provides the junta with the political and material support it needs to survive, all in the name of stabilizing its border and protecting its strategic investments. This is not solidarity with the Global South; this is realpolitik at its most ruthless, where the aspirations of the Myanmar people are sacrificed at the altar of Chinese national interest. ASEAN’s inability to act cohesively and decisively is another tragic failure. The bloc’s principle of consensus has been weaponized by the junta to prevent any meaningful action, leaving it looking weak and irrelevant—a talking shop unable to resolve the most serious crisis in its own backyard.

The Path Forward: Solidarity, Not Simulated Elections

The solution to Myanmar’s crisis does not lie in fake elections or begging for legitimacy from a world order that has repeatedly failed it. The solution lies in unequivocally supporting the will of the Burmese people, who have shown incredible courage in resisting this tyranny. The Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and the armed resistance represent the true, legitimate voice of Myanmar. The international community, particularly other nations of the Global South, must recognize this and offer them tangible support—diplomatic recognition, humanitarian aid channeled through alternative networks, and pressure on the junta’s financial lifelines.

This is a pivotal moment. We must reject the junta’s narrative and see this electoral theater for what it is: a last-ditch effort to sanitize a brutal dictatorship. The people of Myanmar are not asking for our pity; they are asking for our solidarity in their fight for freedom against a modern-day colonial force—their own military. The path to peace lies not through the ballot box of the oppressor, but through inclusive dialogue that includes the NUG, ethnic armed organizations, and civil society leaders. Until then, any election is nothing more than a cynical joke written in the blood of the Burmese people. Our duty is to amplify their struggle and condemn this farce in the strongest possible terms, standing firm against imperialism in all its forms, whether it originates from a Western capital or from within a nation’s own borders.