10 January 2026: Undeterred by nationwide boycotts, dismal first round voter turnout and widespread reports of irregularities, the Myanmar military junta plans to proceed with the “second phase” of its fake elections on Sunday.
The first phase, held on 28 December, was a humiliation for the junta. Widespread boycotts were a defiant display of the Myanmar people’s courage and determination, and their sustained rejection of attempted military rule. Deserted city streets and empty polling stations once again laid bare the junta’s total lack of legitimacy.
“The Myanmar people have already delivered their verdict,” said Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) Member Yanghee Lee. “They unequivocally reject the junta and its fake elections. The first phase served only to expose the junta as a complete laughingstock. Why continue them at all?”
“Governments, including ASEAN members, must put an end to this farce now by outright rejecting this fraud and engaging with Myanmar’s legitimate pro-democracy actors,” Lee added.
The sham elections have been engineered to ensure victory for the junta’s proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party. Genuine political parties, particularly those that enjoy the most popular support, have been barred from participating, while democratic leaders continue to languish as political prisoners.
As Sunday’s vote nears, it remains unclear where voting will even take place given the junta’s limited territorial reach. Voting was cancelled in thousands of first phase polling stations, in some cases just hours before the polls were set to open.
The junta’s sham elections are a desperate bid for legitimacy, even if only from a handful of undemocratic and brutal regimes. It is therefore essential that the international community comes together to demand an immediate end to this absurd exercise and to outright reject the junta in any form it takes.
Failure to do so would send a green light to every power hungry general in the region with autocratic leanings, and inflict lasting damage on eroding democratic norms globally.
It would also make the international community complicit in the junta’s atrocities. In the past month, nearly 90 civilians have been killed in junta air attacks in Sagaing Region alone, according to reports. The junta also continues to punish perceived opponents with torture, sexual violence, arbitrary detention, forced displacement and by withholding humanitarian aid.
Urgent international action is needed now to end the atrocities. To hobble the junta’s war machine, ASEAN members, Myanmar’s neighbours, and the broader international community including through the United Nations must impose comprehensive weapons and aviation fuel embargoes on the junta, as well as financial sanctions to cut the junta’s access to cash.
To end the junta’s impunity, the leading generals should be brought before the International Criminal Court and national courts exercising universal jurisdiction to answer for their atrocities.
SAC-M calls on States to stand with the Myanmar people and their genuine democratic will and aspirations. This must also see strengthened support to Myanmar’s legitimate pro-democracy actors, including ethnic organisations, civil society and the National Unity Government in their committed efforts to build an inclusive federal democratic Myanmar.