According to preliminary results reported by state media, Myanmar’s Union Solidarity and Development Party, which is supported by the military, is in the lead following the first round of a divisive general election. This is the first election since a coup in 2021.
The ruling junta has claimed that the three-phase vote will bring political stability to the poor Southeast Asian country, which had ignited a nationwide uprising after suppressing pro-democracy demonstrations following its takeover.
The Union Election Commission (UEC) revealed partial results for 56 constituencies in Myanmar’s first election since 2020. Despite low voter turnout, the junta-backed party won by a big majority as predicted.
The results published on Friday show the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), led by retired generals, winning 38 of 40 seats in the Pyithu Hluttaw, or lower house, whose outcomes have been tallied.
The Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, also known as the White Tiger Party and the Mon Unity Party (MUP) got one seat each.
The USDP also won 14 of the 15 regional or State Hluttaw seats counted in the first-past-the-post system, while the Akha National Development Party took one, out of a smaller field of candidates chosen by the military.
There is just one seat for the upper chamber, or Amyotha Hluttaw, and the Wa National Party gained it.
Since anti-junta political parties are not in the race and it is illegal to criticize the polls, the United Nations, several Western nations, and human rights organizations have criticized the lack of a date for the election’s final outcome.
The election panel has not revealed the total number of constituencies voting in the first phase, opting instead to release partial results on a constituency-by-constituency basis.
The junta said on Wednesday that 52% of eligible voters had cast ballots in the first round.
However, according to the U.S.-based NGO International Foundation for Electoral Systems, it fell short of the about 70% turnout in general elections in 2020 and 2015.
265 of Myanmar’s 330 townships—some of which the junta does not fully control—will be included in two additional voting rounds scheduled for January 11 and January 25.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner deposed by the military months after she won the last general election by a landslide in 2020, remains in detention. Her National League for Democracy has been disbanded.
Analysts say the junta’s bid to set up a stable government in the midst of war is fraught with risk, and broad foreign recognition is also unlikely for any military-controlled administration with a civilian veneer.
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