Myanmar sets late January date for final election round
The third and final round of Myanmar's elections will be held on Jan 25, 2026.
YANGON: Myanmar’s junta will hold the third and final round of its tightly controlled elections on Jan 25, a statement said on Thursday (Dec 25), just days before the first phase of voting begins.
The announcement comes as the military presses ahead with polls widely dismissed by democracy watchdogs as an attempt to legitimise its rule after the 2021 coup that plunged the country into civil war and left large parts of Myanmar under the control of rebel groups.
Democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains jailed since the takeover, while her National League for Democracy party, which won a landslide victory in the 2020 election, has been dissolved. The United Nations has criticised the junta for a sweeping crackdown on dissent in the run-up to the vote.
THIRD ROUND SET FOR 63 TOWNSHIPS
The junta-appointed Union Election Commission said the final round of voting will take place in 63 of the country’s 330 townships.
The first round of ballots is scheduled for Sunday, with a second round due on Jan 11.
COUP AND CONFLICT BACKDROP
Myanmar was ruled by the military for most of its post-independence history before a decade-long period of civilian government raised hopes of democratic reform.
Those hopes were dashed when army chief Min Aung Hlaing seized power after military-backed parties suffered a heavy defeat in the 2020 polls, alleging widespread voter fraud.
Security forces violently suppressed the protests that followed the coup, prompting many activists to take up arms alongside ethnic minority forces that have long fought the central state.
RESTRICTIONS ON POLITICAL ACTIVITY
The junta has introduced laws that punish protest or criticism of the elections with prison terms of up to 10 years.
Min Aung Hlaing has portrayed the upcoming polls as a step towards restoring democracy and a path to peace for armed opponents of military rule.
Election monitors, however, say the process is dominated by parties aligned with the military, with meaningful opposition effectively excluded.
