Myanmar votes in second phase of military-run election

Voters in war-torn Myanmar queued up on Sunday to cast their ballots in the second stage of a military-run election, following low turnout in the initial round of polls that have been widely criticised as a tool to formalise junta rule.



Myanmar has been ravaged by conflict since the military ousted a civilian government in a 2021 coup and detained its leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a civil war that has engulfed large parts of the impoverished nation of 51 million people.



Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, which swept the last election in 2020, has been dissolved along with dozens of other anti-junta parties for failing to register for the latest polls, while rebel groups have refused to take part.



The United Nations, many Western countries and human rights groups say the election is a sham exercise that is neither free, fair nor credible in the absence of a meaningful opposition.