by Ro Maung Shwe
Rohingya Khobor | Yangon, Myanmar
On December 28, 2025, Myanmar’s military regime proceeded with the first phase of its planned national election, covering 102 townships out of a total 330 nationwide. Promoted by the junta as a step toward restoring democratic order, the vote has been widely rejected by political parties, ethnic communities, civil society groups, and international observers as a staged exercise aimed at legitimizing continued military rule rather than reflecting the will of the people.
Nearly five years after the February 2021 coup, Myanmar remains deeply fractured by civil war, repression, and territorial collapse. Under these conditions, critics argue, the election is neither free nor fair, and fails to meet even the most basic standards of a credible democratic process.
A Country at War, Not at the Ballot Box
One of the most fundamental flaws of the 2025 election lies in the reality that large parts of Myanmar are no longer under the control of the military regime led by Min Aung Hlaing. Ongoing armed conflict has made voting impossible across vast regions of the country.
Entire townships in Rakhine State, Shan State, Chin State, Karenni State, Karen State, and large areas of Sagaing and Magway regions remain fully or partially controlled by ethnic armed organizations and resistance forces, including People’s Defence Forces. In these areas, daily life is marked by clashes, airstrikes, displacement, and humanitarian emergencies.
In Rakhine State, fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army has intensified, leaving large swathes of territory inaccessible to junta authorities. In northern and southern Shan State, control is fragmented among multiple armed actors, while in Chin and Karenni states the military has lost significant ground. Civilians continue to flee air bombardments and ground assaults.
As a result, millions of people were excluded from the election simply because the military does not control their areas. Analysts stress that an election conducted in selected pockets of the country, while war rages elsewhere, cannot represent the national will.
An Election Without Choice
The political environment surrounding the vote has been equally restrictive. The National League for Democracy, which won overwhelming victories in the 2015 and 2020 elections, was forcibly dissolved. Its senior leadership remains imprisoned, including Aung San Suu Kyi, who faces lengthy sentences following closed-door trials widely condemned as politically motivated.
Most opposition parties were banned, disqualified, or chose to boycott the election, citing intimidation, legal harassment, and the complete absence of political freedom. Campaigning took place under heavy military surveillance, while freedom of expression, assembly, and independent media reporting remained severely restricted.
Under these conditions, the military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party and its allies dominated the electoral landscape, raising serious concerns that outcomes were predetermined rather than the result of genuine public choice.
Systematic Exclusion of the Rohingya
One of the most enduring injustices in Myanmar’s electoral history was once again repeated in 2025: the systematic exclusion of the Rohingya, an indigenous people of Arakan State.
For decades, successive governments have denied Rohingya citizenship under the 1982 Citizenship Law, stripping them of fundamental rights, including the right to vote. Despite their historical presence in Rakhine State, Rohingya communities inside Myanmar, as well as more than one million refugees living in Bangladesh, were overwhelmingly denied participation in the election.
In a limited and controversial move, military authorities allowed a small number of Rohingya confined to IDP camps in and around Sittwe to vote. Out of an estimated 10,000 eligible voters, only about 2,000 reportedly cast ballots. Observers argue this selective inclusion was symbolic and politically motivated, intended to project a false image of inclusivity rather than restore genuine political rights.
The vast majority of Rohingya, both inside Myanmar and in exile, remain excluded from the political process, reinforcing what rights groups describe as an entrenched system of institutionalized apartheid.
Manufactured Legitimacy, Not Democracy
International reaction to the election has been overwhelmingly critical. Human rights organizations, democracy advocates, and foreign governments have denounced the vote as an attempt to manufacture legitimacy while maintaining military rule through force.
With no inclusive political dialogue, no nationwide ceasefire, no restoration of civil liberties, and no recognition of ethnic and religious minority rights, the election does nothing to address the root causes of Myanmar’s crisis. Instead, critics warn, it risks deepening polarization and prolonging armed conflict.
Rohingya Voices on the Election
Rohingya political and rights advocates have strongly rejected the legitimacy of the vote.
Ro Khin Maung, a young Rohingya politician and elected Rohingya representative, said the election cannot be described as free, fair, or inclusive. He said it excludes large segments of the population and denies genuine political choice, warning that the process is more likely to intensify violence and further entrench military dominance.
Ko Arfath, a Rohingya human rights activist, said the election was not a democratic exercise but a staged performance by the junta. He said ordinary people were pressured and forced to participate, while the military and its loyalists pretended to vote. According to him, the process was a transparent attempt to deceive the international community, one that no longer convinces anyone.
Conclusion: A Vote Detached from Reality
The December 28, 2025 election did not signal a return to democracy in Myanmar. Instead, it exposed the contradictions of attempting to hold elections amid active warfare, territorial fragmentation, political imprisonment, and systemic exclusion.
An election conducted while large parts of the country lie outside state control, while entire communities such as the Rohingya are denied equal rights, and while coercion replaces consent, cannot be considered legitimate.
For Myanmar to move toward genuine peace and democracy, any future election must be nationwide, inclusive, and conducted under civilian authority, with full participation of all ethnic communities, including the Rohingya, and an end to military domination. Until then, such votes will remain procedural exercises without moral or political credibility.
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