Myanmar: Second phase of vote opens in junta-run election

The second phase of a military-run election in Myanmar began on Sunday.

The general election is the first to be held in Myanmar in five years after the country's powerful army —  known as The Tatmadaw — grabbed power in 2021.

The coup deposed the government of pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been in prison ever since.

Democracy watchdogs, as well as the US, EU and other Western powers, has dismissed the election —  which is being held in the shadow of a brutal civil war —  as a sham designed to entrench the military's rule under General Min Aung Hlaing.

Myanmar's military junta has claimed  that the three-phase election would return power to the people.

The first round on December 28 saw a voter turnout of 52.13%, far lower than the previous elections held in 2020 and 2015.

On Sunday, ballots opened at 6 a.m. local time (12:30 a.m. CET) in 100 of Myanmar's 330 townships, including in Yangon and Mandalay —  the Southeast Asian nation's largest and second-largest cities, respectively.

Parts of Sagaing, Magway, Mandalay, Bago and Tanintharyi regions, along with Mon, Shan, Kachin, Kayah and Kayin states also went to the polls in the second phase.

Many of these areas have either seen clashes in recent months or remain under increased security.

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The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), widely seen as the military's proxy, is

leading by a steep margin ‍after winning 90 of the 102 lower house seats covered in the first phase.

More than 4,800 candidates from 57 parties are contesting in the elections for seats in national and regional legislatures.

However, only six parties, including the USDP,  have candidates competing nationwide.

Dozens of anti-junta parties, along with Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, have been dissolved for failing to register ‌for the latest elections.

Aside from there being no real opposition, the vote is not being held in areas where the military is not in control, after rebel groups fighting the junta in large swathes of the war-torn country boycotted the poll.

The election culminates with a final phase on January 25.