Myanmar's military government says it will hold elections in next year

The leader of Myanmar's military junta has announced that the country will hold national elections in December 2025 or January 2026. This announcement has garnered widespread attention from the international community, and further developments remain to be seen. The timing of the election and the conditions surrounding it will be crucial factors in determining its legitimacy.

General Min Aung Hlaing asserted that the upcoming election will be "free and fair," adding that 53 political parties have submitted their names, indicating their willingness to participate. This will be Myanmar's first election since the 2021 military coup, during which the military arrested and imprisoned the democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and made unsubstantiated claims of fraud in the previous year's election. The international community is watching closely to see if the junta will allow genuine political participation.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the coup, with protests against the military junta escalating into a nationwide armed rebellion. Critics argue that this election announcement is a sham designed to maintain the junta's power through proxy parties. Human Rights Watch told the BBC: "If the junta thinks that elections held under the current circumstances will be considered credible, they are being incredibly naive." The legitimacy of the election is being widely questioned, given the current political climate.

Human Rights Watch added, "As a prerequisite for elections, they need to end the violence, release all those arbitrarily detained, and allow all parties to register and participate, rather than dissolving opposition parties." Since taking power, the junta has violently suppressed dissent, executing pro-democracy activists and imprisoning journalists. However, the junta has struggled to control a widespread rebellion involving pro-democracy and ethnic minority rebel groups and has limited control outside major cities. The ongoing conflict continues to destabilize the country.

The United Nations, citing data from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), stated that at least 6,231 civilians, including 1,144 women and 709 children, have been killed by the military in the past four years. The UN warned in September that Myanmar is "plunging into a bottomless pit of human suffering." The dire humanitarian situation underscores the urgency of finding a peaceful and democratic resolution to the crisis.