Regime leader Min Aung Hlaing cast his ballot in Zeyarthiri Township of Naypyidaw on Sunday, the first day of voting in the regime’s 2025-26 elections, which will continue on Jan. 11 and Jan. 25, 2026.
Min Aung Hlaing responded to a reporter’s question after leaving the polling station. When asked whether he will become the president of Myanmar, he said that he “can’t do what he wants” as Commander-in-Chief of the military, adding that the presidency can only be decided by parliament after it is convened in 2026.
Min Aung Hlaing staged a military coup on Feb. 1, 2021 over allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 elections without providing any evidence to the people of Myanmar
He ousted the National League for Democracy (NLD) government and jailed its leaders State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint. Both have been held by the regime ever since. Aung San Suu Kyi’s son Kim Aris fears that his 80-year-old mother may have died in detention.
A regime employee told DVB on the condition of anonymity that all staff members were required to provide evidence to their supervisors that they will vote on Dec. 28, but did not disclose any punishment against those who refuse to follow the order.
“We didn’t want to vote but they gave us no choice,” he said, adding that the regime would continue rebuilding and repairing staff houses damaged or destroyed by the earthquake on March 28, but only after the elections conclude in late January.
Regime staff were ordered to report their voter registration numbers and the polling stations assigned to them by the regime’s Union Election Commission (UEC) before the election start date.
Voting is underway at polling stations in all eight townships of Naypyidaw.
A total of 102 townships are included in the first phase of elections on Dec. 28, with 100 more to follow on Jan. 11, 2026, and 63 others on Jan. 25, according to the UEC. It scheduled elections in 265 out of Myanmar’s 330 townships.
