On Dec. 28, polls will open in Burma in the country’s first elections since the military seized power in a coup in 2021. Any international onlookers viewing this exercise as a sign of a return to democratic governance, however, would be sorely mistaken. The Burmese junta has borrowed the sham election blueprint directly from the dictator’s playbook, seeking the legitimacy that elections confer while restricting competition and escalating repression. Governments in Southeast Asia must recognize the junta’s threats to human security throughout the region and refuse to be complicit in dressing Burma’s authoritarianism in the language of democracy.
Neither Free nor Fair
The Burmese junta rebranded itself as the State Security and Peace Commission (SSPC) in July 2025. By mid-August, the SSPC — stacked with generals and military-aligned ministers — announced that the first phase of the election would begin in December. From the beginning, the junta sought to engineer a one-horse race, seeking to gain a veneer of legitimacy through holding elections while precluding real competition.
In October, the military’s own Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) wasted no time in rolling out its campaign in the capital, Naypyitaw, and Yangon. Though the regime allowed dozens of smaller political parties to register, the National League for Democracy (NLD), which secured a landslide victory in 2020, was unable to compete. The NLD was among the many parties dissolved by the junta-appointed Union Election Commission in 2023 after it failed to meet deliberatively prohibitive guidelines to re-register under restrictive new election rules.
Many Burmese will not be able to freely participate in the elections. The military controls less than half of the country, and intensifying clashes with resistance groups across Burma have left more than 3.6 million people internally displaced. Voters in dozens of townships that remain under martial law will be unable to cast their ballots. Rohingya, Tamils, Gurkhas, Chinese, and minority groups have also been barred from the voting process.
Instead of softening repression to live up to its claims of a “transition to a civilian administration,” the junta has further hardened governance ahead of the elections. While touting its ballot as a transition to peace, the junta has escalated its airstrikes on civilians with assistance from China, which has backed the Burmese military and thwarted the UN Security Council’s attempts to respond to its atrocities. The military has killed more than 7,500 people since the coup. Despite recent political prisoner releases, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, more than 22,000 people remain detained under inhumane conditions, including starvation, forced labor, and torture.
As the election date approaches, the junta has continued to restrict any criticism by enacting a new electoral law to silence any criticism and criminalize “attempts to undermine the election process.” Since then, the junta has reportedly charged more than 200 people, including children. Some of those targeted with harsh prison sentences under the law had simply shared election news from independent outlets outlawed by the regime.
Rejections from the International Community
The European Union, the United Nations, and human rights groups have denounced the junta’s election ploy. The European Union has refused to send observers, stating the process cannot be considered free or fair under Burma’s current conditions, and that the election would only deepen existing divisions and violence. International experts, including UN Secretary-General António Guterres, warned that the election could deepen Burma’s instability.
Faced with widespread condemnation, the Burmese junta is using its elections as a last resort to charm its neighbors in Southeast Asia.
ASEAN’s Willful Ambiguity
Since the 2021 coup, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) has failed to fulfill its mission to promote regional peace and stability. Despite international sanctions against the Burmese junta for its crimes against humanity, its leaders continue to be welcomed in regional forums. In April, the current ASEAN Chair, Malaysia, welcomed the Burmese military to its counterterrorism meeting. In May, the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights invited the Burmese military representative to join its recent meeting on “advancing human rights cooperation.”
ASEAN’s response to Burma’s sham elections has been murky at best. In October 2025, international media reported that ASEAN would not send an official mission to observe the elections, but member states were still free to send observers. Thailand’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Nikorndej Balankura, already signaled that Bangkok would send observers to the upcoming election if invited, claiming that it could be part of a broader peace process. Such gestures risk granting credibility to an election designed to entrench military rule, not end it.
The junta’s brutal crackdown has left Burma in ruins. Now, the military seeks to gain international legitimacy through elections, despite the collapsing economy, growing food insecurity, thousands of civilians dead or imprisoned in its crackdown, and millions of people displaced. The military USDP’s campaign slogan is “Stronger Myanmar” – that is, stronger for the military, but not for the people of Burma.
ASEAN has turned a blind eye to the junta’s grave human rights abuses by continuing to engage with it regionally – but Burma’s deeply flawed elections provide an opportunity for ASEAN to resoundingly denounce authoritarianism and to promote democracy and security throughout the broader region. Southeast Asian states must not legitimize this charade. Instead, they should refrain from sending election observers, and call this election what it is: a sham.
This blog post was authored by the Human Rights Foundation, in partnership with our friends at ALTSEAN-Burma. ALTSEAN-Burma is a regional network advancing human rights, democracy, and inclusive civic participation in Burma through advocacy, training, and collaboration.
