Myanmar’s military government charge hundreds with breaking election law as voting date nears

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military government has charged more than 200 people with violating the Southeast Asian country’s voting law ahead of a general election at the end of the month, keeping up pressure on opponents of the polls.

Critics of the election — which starts on Dec. 28 — claim it will be neither free nor fair and that it is designed to add the facade of legitimacy to military rule that began after the army in February 2021 ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The takeover triggered widespread popular opposition that has grown into a civil war, which has complicated holding the polls in many contested areas. This is one of the reasons voting will be held in three phases, with the second on Jan. 11 and the third on Jan. 25.

There are punishments as severe as the death penalty for opposing or disrupting the polls under an election law enacted under military rule.

Widespread arrests

Home Affairs Minister Lt.-Gen. Tun Tun Naung told a meeting on Tuesday that authorities had identified and taken action against 229 people — 201 men and 28 women — in 140 cases of attempting to sabotage election process, according to the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper.

The report did not provide details on those charged or say how many had been arrested.

The new law, enacted in July, says anyone who speaks, organizes, incites, protests or distributes letters to disrupt any part of the electoral process shall be punished with between three and 10 years’ imprisonment, as well as a fine. Other offenses carry sentences up to the death penalty.

State media has recently released the names of some of those charged, including well-known activists Tayzar San, Nan Lin and Htet Myat Aung, who led a bold Dec. 3 protest in the country’s second-largest city of Mandalay, calling on the public to reject elections, abolish the military conscription law and release political prisoners.

The General Strike Coordination Body, the leading non-violent organization opposing army rule, said in a statement Wednesday that Htet Myat Aung, one of its members, was arrested by security forces in Mandalay and was allegedly abused during the arrest.

The statement said the life of the 24-year-old is in imminent danger. The Associated Press could not verify his condition.

State media reports say that among those charged are filmmakers, an actor and comedian, children, members of People’s Defense Forces — pro-democracy militias formed after the army takeover — and members of ethnic armed groups fighting the army.

Most were reportedly accused of actions such as destroying campaign posters, threatening or arresting election workers and posting comments on social media. According to local media repots, including the online news site Myanmar Now, some of them have received sentences of up to 49 years in prison.

A vote for Myanmar, not the international community

Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, a spokesperson for the military government, told a briefing on Sunday that it does not matter whether the international community is satisfied or dissatisfied with the election because it is being held for Myanmar, not for the international community.

“Those who want to criticize can do so,” Zaw Min Tun said. “We will continue to pursue our original objective of returning to a multi-party democratic system.”

A major reason the election is being seen as unfair is because Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, or NLD, party cannot compete because it was forced to disband in 2023. It won a landslide victory in the 2015 election that brought it to power for the first time, and increased its margin of victory in the 2020 polls.

The army staged its takeover in 2021, keeping the NLD from taking a second term, with the excuse that there were irregularities that invalidated the process. Independent election observers disagreed, and said there were no substantive problems.

Suu Kyi, 80, is serving prison sentences totaling 27 years after being convicted in a series of politically tainted prosecutions brought by the military on what many believe are spurious grounds. Reports that have recently emerged raising concerns about her health, but the military denied them Tuesday, saying she is in good health.