The regime’s Union Election Commission (UEC) states that insulting or defaming rival political parties, or candidates, during the electoral process could be considered a malpractice and even a criminal offence.
Than Soe, the UEC chairperson, said this to representatives from 57 political parties at a meeting in the capital Naypyidaw on Monday.
An independent candidate running in the regime’s 2025-26 elections told DVB on the condition of anonymity that the UEC chairperson made indirect threats against candidates for criticizing the military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which won 88 out of 96 seats in the Pyithu Hluttaw, or lower house of parliament, during the first phase of voting on Dec. 28
The UEC announced on Jan. 5 that the USDP also won 10 out of 18 seats in the Amyotha Hluttaw, or upper house of parliament, based on preliminary election results. Six million out of over 11 million voters cast their ballots on Dec. 28, according to the UEC, which added that official results will be announced after the final phase of voting concludes on Jan. 25.
Than Soe added that the UEC allowed 1,544 “election observers” to monitor polls in all 102 out of Myanmar’s 330 townships involved in phase one of voting on Dec. 28. He did not disclose how many would monitor the second round of voting on Jan. 11.
Data for Myanmar, an independent research group, shared on Jan. 5 that the total number of advanced votes received by 81 USDP candidates was 342,642, which is 17 percent of a total of 2,058,808 votes. It added that the calculation is based on the UEC’s advanced ballot count in 81 out of 102 townships.
The regime Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed over the ballots to the UEC from advanced voting by Myanmar citizens living abroad on Dec. 18. Advanced polls were held at Myanmar embassies in Tokyo, Japan, Dec. 1–2, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Dec. 2, in New Delhi, India, Dec. 4-6, in Beijing, China, Dec. 5-6, and in Seoul, South Korea, Dec. 6-12.
Myanmar citizens who were registered with the UEC and not at their family homes were allowed to cast advanced ballots in certain locations from Dec. 18-27.
Hsan Sint, a former USDP minister and an independent candidate for Yekyi Township in Ayeyarwady Region, told local media that when he asked UEC officials whether seals or padlocks with passcodes were used to secure advance ballot boxes, they said they did not know.
He added that the UEC should record passcode numbers, because if the numbers change or the ballot box cannot be opened, it would indicate that it had been tampered with or compromised.
Hsan Shint said he filed a complaint to the UEC chairperson responsible for Ayeyarwady Region on Dec. 27.
Sai Aik Paung, the chairperson of the Shan and Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), told DVB that the party filed a complaint letter to regime leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, requesting a “free-and-fair” election in the next two rounds of voting.
The second phase of voting will be held in 100 townships on Jan. 11 and the final phase will be in 63 townships on Jan. 25. The regime elections will be held in 265 out of Myanmar’s 330 townships, as the remaining 65 townships “lack conditions to hold free-and-fair elections,” according to the UEC.
The UEC can only hold elections in urban areas of Sagaing Region’s Kalewa, Chaung-U, Butalin, Ayadaw, and Mawlaik townships on Jan. 11, as well as Kachin State’s Bhamo, Mansi, and Momauk townships, and Mandalay Region’s Ngazun and Taungtha townships on Jan. 25, according to DVB data.
The UEC announced on Dec. 30 that political parties and candidates are allowed to continue campaigning in the lead up to the final two phases of voting Jan. 12-23. The original 60-day campaign period ended on Dec. 26 – two days before the first phase of voting began on Dec. 28.
