Myanmar goes to the polls amid civil war and humanitarian crisis

Myanmar heads to the polls on Sunday as it battles a civil war that has ravaged parts of the country as well as one of Asia's worst humanitarian crises.



Already one of Southeast Asia's poorest countries, Myanmar has been hammered by a conflict triggered by a 2021 coup in which the military ousted an elected civilian government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.



Myanmar's humanitarian crisis is one of the most severe in Asia, driven by the intensifying civil war and repeated natural disasters, ‌including a massive earthquake in March.



The ruling junta has previously suppressed information about a severe food crisis gripping the country by pressuring researchers not to collect data about hunger and aid workers not to publish it, ‍Reuters has reported, besides cracking down on journalists since the coup.



Myanmar is one of the world's most under-funded aid operations, with only 12% of required funds received, the United Nations says.



U.S. cuts to humanitarian aid are having a crushing impact on people, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar has said.