YANGON: Myanmar’s dominant pro-military party won the first phase of junta-run elections, the last released official results showed on Monday (Jan 5), with the USDP taking nearly 90 per cent of lower house seats.
The military staged a 2021 coup that ousted the democratic government of Aung San Suu Kyi, but is overseeing a month-long phased election it pledges will return power to the people.
Western diplomats and democracy advocates dismiss the poll as a ploy to rebrand military rule, citing Aung San Suu Kyi’s jailing, her party’s dissolution, a crackdown on dissenters and a ballot stacked with military allies.
The pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) won 89 of 102 lower house seats included in the first phase, according to an AFP tally of official results released from Friday to Monday.
The USDP win equates to more than 87 per cent of lower house seats included in the first phase of voting on Dec 28 – the remainder mostly won by a smattering of parties representing ethnic minorities.
Many analysts and democracy watchdogs describe the USDP as a proxy of the military, citing the large numbers of retired officers serving in senior positions.
Overall results are due after the vote’s third and final phase scheduled for Jan 25.
Source: CNA
