Myanmar’s military-backed party claims landslide victory; UN slams ‘sham’ elections

“We won 82 lower house seats in townships which have finished counting, out of the total of 102,” the news agency cited a senior member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party as saying.

Myanmar is conducting month-long phased elections, one phase of voting for which was conducted on Sunday, after the armed forces in the country vowed to hand over the power back to the people after taking over the country in a coup in 2021.

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According to the figures, the party won over 80 per cent of the lower house seats where voting was held in Sunday. A party official told AFP on condition of anonymity that it won all eight townships in the capital Naypyidaw.

USDP is described as the civilian proxy of the country’s military by many analysts, the report said. The party was brutally defeated by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) in the polls held in 2020. However, the government and the party dissolved after the 2021 military coup, after which, Aung San Suu Kyi’s party did not participate in the ongoing polls. The Nobel Peace Prize winner remains in detention.

Concerns over election’s fairness

The elections in Myanmar, first since 2021, have come under heavy criticism from the United Nations, some western countries and human rights groups for allegedly not being “free” and “fair”, reported news agency Reuters.

United Nations’ special envoy for human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said on Sunday that the election in the country must be rejected as it is not a pathway out of Myanmar’s crisis, the Reuters report said. He had previously called the the election a “sham”.

Acknowledging the criticism, junta spokesperson said that there would be political stability in the country following the current polls.

“We believe there will be a better future,” he said.

(With inputs from AFP, Reuters)