Key Takeaways from the Junta's Election Plan

Key Takeaways from the Junta's Election Plan

Elections are universally understood as a cornerstone of democracy—a moment when the will of the people is translated into political power. They are the fundamental process through which citizens choose their representatives and hold their governments accountable. However, in the hands of an authoritarian regime, this sacred process can be twisted into its opposite: a carefully staged performance designed not to reflect public will, but to manufacture a facade of legitimacy for an unelected power.

The upcoming election planned by Myanmar's military junta is a masterclass in this kind of political theater. Far from being a genuine democratic contest, it is an elaborate, multi-faceted strategy to entrench military rule.

The "Proportional" System Designed to Be Anything But

The junta is publicly promoting its new electoral framework as a “Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP)” system. The official justification is that this change will ensure broader representation for Myanmar's diverse ethnic groups.. However, a closer look at the mechanics reveals a deliberate and fundamental deception through introduction of single ballot for two systems (First-Past-The-Post and Proportionate Representation), smaller electoral blocks for PR system, and counting of votes separately undermining the overall proportionality of the outcome.

This technical deception, using the language of fairness to achieve the opposite, is the engine of the entire sham.

How to Win an Entire State by Holding Polls in Just a Handful of Townships

The geographic mechanism required to exploit the flawed math of the system is a combination of gerrymandering and mass disenfranchisement, uniquely tailored for a regime that lacks control over vast swathes of the country territory. The junta is redrawing constituency boundaries to deliberately merge townships where it can hold elections with large, conflict-ridden areas where it cannot.

Under the new electoral map, the junta can fill most state seats in the Upper House of parliament by holding "sporadic" elections in selected townships. This means representatives for an entire state will be "elected" by a tiny fraction of the population, while millions are silenced.

This blatant disregard for the principle of "one person, one vote" is further exposed in Shan State, a textbook case of malapportionment. There, five self-administered zones covering just 11 townships are each granted their own representative. Meanwhile, the remaining 41 townships are bundled together into a single constituency with only one representative.

This is the election which is engineered to produce maximum seats from minimum participation.

Lifting an Emergency to Impose Harsher Laws

The junta has used the pretense of restoring normalcy to enact even greater repression. The regime announced it was lifting the state of emergency in 267 townships, a step that would typically signal a return to normal legal protections.

The reality was the opposite. The very next day, the junta suspended Articles 5, 7, and 8 of the “Citizen’s Privacy, Safety and Security Law” which guarantee citizens’ fundamental rights. The suspension of these key articles strips citizens in those areas of fundamental protections against warrantless arrest, detention without charge, surveillance, and the seizure of private property.

No criticism allowed

To shield its electoral process from any challenge, the junta has enacted a new, brutally repressive Elections Protection Law. This law is not designed to protect voters or the integrity of the vote, but to protect the election itself from any form of criticism or opposition.

The law imposes extreme punishments for vaguely defined offenses. Actions such as "obstructing," "destroying," or even speaking out in a way that could be interpreted as undermining the credibility of the election are criminalized. The penalties are draconian, ranging from three years in prison to the death penalty.