Regime media reported that Tun Tun Naung, the regime Minister for Home Affairs, told a meeting in Naypyidaw on Saturday that 64 citizens have been prosecuted under the new Election Protection Law since its enactment on July 29.
“If the police fail to arrest individuals for criticizing the elections online, the army said it will take action against the police,” a source close to the military told DVB on the condition of anonymity.
He added that the military office in Naypyidaw instructed the Ministry of Home Affairs on Oct. 4 to take “election offences” more seriously.
An unnamed Mandalay pro-democracy group scattered leaflets denouncing the regime elections in downtown Mandalay on Oct. 3. “Don’t give the regime the right to kill through your vote,” said one leaflet. “Boycott the fascist elections,” said another leaflet.
Tayzar San, a physician and pro-democracy activist, told DVB that a “sham” regime election is not the answer to Myanmar’s political crisis.
The regime Ministry of Home Affairs filed charges under the Election Protection Law against leaders of the Karen National Union (KNU), the Arakan Army (AA), and members of the new Chinland Council, which is led by the Chin National Front (CNF).
The law carries a minimum sentence of three years in prison and a maximum sentence of death for anyone “opposing or disrupting the elections.”
On its 37th anniversary, the National League for Democracy (NLD), stated that it does not accept, recognize, nor will it cooperate with any “sham” elections under the regime, which seized power during the military coup that ousted the democratically-elected NLD government on Feb. 1, 2021.
The NLD was first elected in 2015 and then re-elected in 2020 with overwhelming majorities. Both elections were considered “free and fair” by international election observers.
The first phase of the regime elections is scheduled to take place in 102 out of Myanmar’s 330 townships on Dec. 28.
Fifty-seven political parties registered with the regime Union Election Commission (UEC). Six parties, including the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), will contest nationwide.
The USDP governed Myanmar from 2011-16 under a hybrid military regime, but has lost to the NLD in the last two elections.
The NLD was dissolved by the UEC in March 2023 for not re-registering. Its party members have been jailed, killed, or forced into exile by the regime.
