Weak turnout seen in Myanmar's phased election, first since 2021 coup

Myanmar's phased general election closed on Sunday (Dec 28), with signs of low voter turnout for the first polls since a military coup in 2021

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The junta, having crushed pro-democracy protests after the coup and sparked a nationwide rebellion, said the three-phase vote would bring political stability to the impoverished Southeast Asian nation, despite international condemnation of the exercise.



The United Nations, some Western countries and human rights groups have said the vote is not free, fair or credible, given that anti-junta political parties are out of the running and it is illegal to criticise the polls.



Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, deposed by the military months after her National League for Democracy won the last general election by a landslide in 2020, remains in detention, and the party she led to power has been dissolved.



The military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party, led by retired generals and fielding one-fifth of all candidates against severely diminished competition, is set to return to power,