The military council has announced plans to hold elections in four phases, scheduled for the third and fourth weeks of December this year, and the first and second weeks of January 2026, as declared by military leader Min Aung Hlaing during a meeting in Naypyidaw. The council claimed that while they had planned to hold elections within two years after seizing power, they were unable to do so due to post-COVID-19 conditions and what they described as a lack of stability in the country.
The military council plans to implement an electronic voting system for the elections. Although electoral law stipulates that elections should be held simultaneously nationwide on a public holiday with prior announcement, the council has decided to split the process into four phases. The military council defended this decision by citing historical precedent from the parliamentary democracy era, when elections were also held in multiple phases due to internal armed conflicts. They emphasized that their priority is to ensure the successful completion of the electoral process, regardless of the timeframe.
However, it is important to note that the military council has detained State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, who led the National League for Democracy (NLD) to a landslide victory in the 2020 general elections with overwhelming public support. The military has also dissolved the NLD party, declaring it an illegal organization. Political analysts point out that the military council’s election plans do not meet democratic standards and appear to be an attempt to legitimize military rule rather than restore genuine democracy. The planned elections are viewed as fundamentally flawed, given that the military has imprisoned the democratically elected leaders and banned the country’s most popular political party, which won the previous election with an overwhelming majority of votes from the people.
