Myanmar Completes Third Phase of Elections, First Since 2021 Military Coup

Illustration of the Myanmar election voting in Yangon (Wikimedia Commons/Paingpeace)

Myanmar on Sunday completed voting for the third and final phase of its first general election since a 2021 military coup, according to local media reports.

The voting, which began in 63 cities across the country on Sunday morning, ended in the afternoon, according to Myanmar Radio and Television.

Before Sunday's election, the first phase of the election was held in 102 cities on December 28, while the second phase of voting was held in 100 cities on January 11.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the country's acting president, visited a polling station in the Mandalay region.

Refuting international criticism of the election led by the military junta, Senior General Min said: "It's not my business that the international community refuses to recognize this," according to the Irrawaddy newspaper, quoted by Anadolu (26/1).

Earlier this month, Major General Zaw Min Htun, head of the junta's information team, said the new parliament would convene in March after the completion of the election, with the new government expected to take office in April.

This election will determine the members of the Union Parliament, including the lower and upper houses, as well as state and regional legislative bodies. The newly formed Parliament will then elect a president, who will form the next government.

Myanmar's previous elected government, led by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, was ousted in a 2021 coup, plunging the country of a thousand pagodas into more than four years of emergency rule.

The current voting process is the first election since then. Myanmar itself has a bicameral parliament with 664 seats - 440 in the lower house, and 224 in the upper house.

Forty political parties were dissolved in 2023, including the National League for Democracy. At least six parties - with nearly 5,000 candidates - took part in the elections.

At the regional level, 57 parties are competing. The military-backed United Solidarity and Development Party has put forward more than 1,000 candidates.

Separately, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, in a post on social media X on Friday called on the international community to reject the legitimacy of the election.

"Only an illegitimate government can emerge from an illegitimate election. When the Myanmar election ends, the world must reject it as a fraud and reject what happens next as a civilian-led military government," he tweeted.