Myanmar election results expected at end of January, official says

[ad_1] An official from the fee arrange by Myanmar’s ruling army junta to supervise upcoming elections stated Thursday that the outcomes of the extensively disputed ballot might be accessible by the tip of January.

At a information convention in Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s capital, election officers stated that six events would run for nationwide seats, whereas one other 51 others would compete in particular person states or areas. The vote is scheduled to be held in three phases starting on Dec. 28, with two weeks between every part, officers stated.

The army introduced the election regime in July, the primary nationwide vote because the 2021 coup that ousted Myanmar’s democratically elected authorities and plunged the nation into civil struggle. It additionally arrange an interim authorities with army chief Min Aung Hlaing retaining energy as interim president.

The army doesn’t management all of Myanmar. Huge swaths are administered by a variety of armed militias, ethnic teams and pro-democracy fighters, some in open, armed battle with the ruling junta. On the press convention, election council member Khin Maung Oo famous 63 areas “which have safety dangers.”

“We are going to proceed working till we are able to maintain [the vote],” he stated.

The army has framed the election as a method to finish the battle. Critics have referred to as the election a sham, saying the army would retain energy whatever the vote.

Nonetheless, criticism of the election is illegitimate in Myanmar. State-run media reported on Wednesday {that a} 36-year-old man in japanese Shan state was sentenced to seven years of arduous labor for a Fb publish that contained surveillance video of a theft and criticized the army junta for prioritizing the election over public security.

It was the primary identified conviction below a brand new regulation, enacted in July, that criminalized speech or actions which may disrupt the election or the instruments used to conduct it.