Myanmar election enters final stage amid airstrikes and exclusions

"Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing has defended the vote as free and fair, presenting it as a return to democracy and stability. The election is happening almost five years after the military seized power in a coup, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and triggering a fierce conflict. The 80-year-old has been detained since she was ousted, and her party has been banned. The UN, human rights experts and some western governments have rejected the election, saying it lacks legitimacy."

"Tom Andrews, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said the vote had been orchestrated by the military to ensure a landslide by its political proxy, the Union Solidarity and Development party (USDP). The junta is banking on the world's fatigue, hoping that the international community will accept military rule dressed up in civilian clothing, he said. Governments must not allow that to happen."

"Just days ahead of voting, 21 people were killed and 28 injured in a military airstrike on a village where displaced people from the northern township of Bhamo were sheltering in Kachin state, Associated Press reported. Voting is due to take place in Bhamo on Sunday. In total, 57 parties are competing, though only six are doing so nationwide, and analysts say none of the parties on the ballot paper represent anti-military sentiment."

Polling stations opened for the final stage of Myanmar's three-phase election that critics widely deride as a sham. The vote occurs nearly five years after the military seized power in a coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi; she remains detained and her party is banned. The junta defends the election as free and fair and frames it as a return to democracy and stability. United Nations experts, rights groups and some Western governments reject the poll as lacking legitimacy. The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party fields the most candidates while many pro-democracy parties no longer exist. Violence, including recent deadly airstrikes, continues in conflict zones.

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