Myanmar’s military junta has pushed ahead with the first phase of its long-promised general election, closing the initial round on December 28 amid widespread skepticism, armed conflict, and signs of historically low voter participation. Touted by the generals as a pathway to political stability, the election has instead reinforced international concerns that the process is little more than a carefully managed exercise designed to entrench military rule under a thin civilian façade.

This is the first nationwide vote since the February 2021 coup that toppled the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The coup not only ended a decade-long experiment with limited democratic reform but also plunged Myanmar into a protracted civil war that now spans much of the country. Nearly four years later, the junta’s promise that elections would restore order rings hollow to many citizens living amid violence, displacement, and economic collapse.

The election unfolds under extraordinary restrictions. Key opposition parties have been dissolved, including Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), which won a landslide victory in the 2020 election that the military later claimed—without evidence—was fraudulent. Criticizing the election itself has been criminalized, independent media has been crushed, and thousands of political prisoners remain behind bars.

Suu Kyi herself remains in detention, effectively erased from the political landscape she once dominated. Her removal, along with the elimination of meaningful opposition, has led the United Nations, Western governments, and human rights organizations to declare the vote neither free nor fair. Rather than offering voters a genuine choice, the election appears structured to legitimize the junta’s continued........

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