Dear John

The latest edition of Burma Campaign News has just been published, and we are sharing with you an article on the sham elections in Burma that just concluded at the end of last month, nearly five years after the Burmese military’s latest coup.

The Burmese military’s sham elections

On 28 December, the Burmese military held the first round of their sham elections, with two further rounds held on 11 and 25 January.

For the military, this election is all about preserving their power. There’s not even a pretence that these elections are free and fair. 40 political parties have been dissolved, including the National League for Democracy. There are more than 20,000 political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, many MPs and thousands of members of political parties unable to take part. There is no free speech or free expression. It can’t even be a nationwide poll. The Burmese military is in full control of less than half the country and voting is not taking place in many parts of the country.

In areas where voting did take place turnout was low, down by an estimated thirty percent from the 2020 elections and took place in a climate of fear, with reports that many people only voted because they were forced to or too afraid not to.

The military-backed party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has won an overwhelming majority of seats in a sweeping victory. In the elections in 2015 and 2020, the USDP was beaten in landslide election victories by the National League for Democracy.

There was never any doubt about the result of these ‘elections’. The military’s proxy party, the USDP, will be installed, as orchestrated, as the military’s ‘civilian’ government. The USDP itself is led by retired military generals and officers. That government will, as before, be under the undemocratic 2008 constitution, with 25% of seats reserved for serving military personnel as well as key government ministries under direct military rule.

The military elections are so clearly a sham that, as expected, many democratic governments and the United Nations have stated that they will not be free or fair. The British government said that “There are no indications that the planned elections will be perceived as free or fair. Elections under current circumstances risk provoking further violence and make a long-term solution more elusive.”  

However, the real danger lies ahead. The Burmese military are hoping for a repeat of what happened after their sham elections in 2010, when the international community ultimately backed the military’s fake reform process and dropped sanctions and international pressure.

It remains to be seen what steps the military and their proxy government take next. So far, they have not put much effort into trying to persuade the international community that this is the start of a reform process, but that could change now the elections are over, and when the new government is in place.

There may be more seemingly dramatic changes in the coming months, perhaps a series of political prisoner releases and ceasefires with some of the ethnic armed groups. There may be a small period of opening and improvement for some, but this will not signify any long-term genuine reforms.

With the scale of suffering in Burma, the humanitarian crisis, and multiple other international crises around the world, the Burmese military may be hoping that even a superficial veneer of reform will be enough to persuade the British government and others that something is better than nothing, to lift sanctions and pressure the people of Burma to go along with a sham reform process.

It is vital that the British government and other countries do not relax international pressure on the Burmese military and do not support the proxy regime the military will install post-election.

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Thank you for your support,

Amy Rosenberg

Fundraising Officer

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