Myanmar junta chief announces election for December or January
Myanmar's military government will hold a general election in December 2025 or January 2026, state media said on Saturday, citing the junta chief, who provided the first specific time frame for the long-promised polls in the war-torn nation.
General Min Aung Hlaing, head of the ruling military council, stated that the upcoming elections would be conducted in a “free and fair” manner. He also revealed that 53 political parties have already submitted their applications to participate in the electoral process.
The proposed elections would be the first since the military seized control in a February 2021 coup, during which elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi was detained and her government was removed from power. The junta had claimed unverified electoral fraud in the 2020 vote as justification for the takeover.
Since the coup, Myanmar has faced ongoing unrest, with peaceful protests escalating into widespread armed resistance against the military regime. Opposition groups and international observers have expressed skepticism about the junta's election plans, describing them as an attempt to maintain control through allied political factions.
Human Rights Watch criticized the announcement, telling the media that any election held under the current repressive conditions would lack credibility. The organization stressed that, before any legitimate election can take place, the military must end violence, release political prisoners, and allow opposition parties to participate freely.
The military government has been accused of severe human rights violations, including executing pro-democracy activists, suppressing independent media, and jailing dissenting voices. Despite these efforts, it continues to face strong resistance from both pro-democracy forces and ethnic armed groups, and its authority remains weak in many parts of the country.
According to the United Nations, citing figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), over 6,200 civilians have been killed by security forces since the coup, including more than 1,100 women and over 700 children. In a report last September, the UN warned that Myanmar was descending into a deep humanitarian crisis marked by widespread suffering and instability.
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