Regime employees in Taikkyi Township of Yangon Region told DVB that they were made to sign pledges taking responsibility to protect information, directives, and meeting records related to the upcoming elections on Friday. Taikkyi is located 43 miles (69 km) north of Yangon City.
A regime staff member in Taikkyi told DVB on the condition of anonymity that anyone found responsible for leaking election data would be prosecuted under the General Election Protection Law, enacted on July 29.
The law carries a minimum sentence of three years in prison and a maximum sentence of death for anyone convicted of disrupting the elections, which are scheduled to begin on Dec. 28.
The regime staff member added that Taikkyi enforces stricter rules on its employees as it is home to the Directorate of Defence Industry (DDI) 11, which reportedly manufactures small arms and hosts a military training school.
A regime administration official told DVB on the condition of anonymity that most confidential data was leaked from the military headquarters in Naypyidaw’s Zeyarthiri Township but did not provide any proof.
Residents in Thingangyun Township told DVB that regime officials ordered each household from townships across Yangon to send one member over the age of 18 to a demonstration of electronic voting machines and a “voting rehearsal” on Sept. 3.
A resident of Thingangyun told DVB on the condition of anonymity that regime officials threatened them that their overnight guests would be declined if they did not attend the event.
All residents have to report overnight guest lists to the authorities under the Ward or Village Tract Administration Law reinstated by the regime in Naypyidaw following the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021.
Another resident, who attended the event, told DVB that voters are given only three seconds after casting their vote to check whether the party they chose is correctly recorded on the ballot paper. They can lodge a complaint with regime officials at the polling station if they’ve made an error.
A source close to the regime administration told DVB that the “voting rehearsal” event would only be deemed successful if one-fourth of the population of each ward showed up.
The source added that members of the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which governed the country under a hybrid military regime from 2011-16, attended the event.
Yangon has 45 constituencies and the first phase of elections will be held in Kamaryut, Kyauktada, Taikkyi, Twantay, South Dagon, Botahtaung, Mayangone, Mingaladon, Hmawbi, Thingangyun, Thanlyin and Ahlone townships.
The USDP is one of the nine parties that will contest nationwide. A total of 61 parties have registered with the regime Union Election Commission (UEC). The first phase of the elections will be held in 102 out of Burma’s 330 townships on Dec. 28, according to the UEC.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party was dissolved by the UEC in 2023 for not re-registering along with 39 other pro-democracy parties. Suu Kyi, and President Win Myint, were arrested during the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021 and have been held in prison ever since.
The NLD won a landslide victory during the 2015 elections, which was only the second time they felt the vote was “free and fair” since it won the popular vote during the 1990 elections, which were overturned by a previous military regime.
The NLD defeated the USDP and led the civilian side of the government, alongside the military, from 2016-2021. But pro-military parties, including the USDP, accused the NLD of voter fraud in the 2020 elections, which has been cited by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing as a pretext for the 2021 military coup.
The National Unity Government (NUG) and resistance forces, including the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Arakan Army (AA), have rejected elections held under the regime which seized power during the 2021 coup.
