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Key Points
Myanmar's 2025 general election kicked off on 28 December 2025, five years after the military junta overthrew the previously elected government in a coup.
The election will take place across three phases, with the final to be held on 25 January 2026. Around 1/3 of the country's townships have been excluded from voting.
Many opposition parties have boycotted the election, arguing that it has been manipualted and is going to be used by the junta to legitimise its rule internationally.
Myanmar kicked off its 2025 multi-party democratic general election with the first phase held on Sunday, 28 December 2025. This comes after five years of the Civil War following a coup by the military junta against Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in 2021.
The general election is scheduled to be held in three phases, with the second phase set for January 11, 2026, followed by the third phase on January 25.
The election will cover a total of 692 constituencies across the country. About 5,000 candidates from 57 political parties are competing for seats in the Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House), Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House), and State and Region Hluttaws (State and Region Parliaments).
The election will produce the elected members of the Union Parliament (Pyithu Hluttaw and Amyotha Hluttaw) and State and Region Parliaments; the new Union Parliament will then elect a new president, who will form a new Union Government, reports Xinhua news agency.
According to the Union Election Commission, a total of 21,517 polling stations have been set up nationwide for the general election.
Unlike previous elections, Myanmar has introduced the Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) system and the Myanmar Electronic Voting Machine. The MMP system combines First-Past-the-Post and Proportional Representation, the state-owned daily Global New Light of Myanmar reported.
According to the Ministry of Information, Myanmar citizens living abroad have already cast their advance votes at overseas embassies and consulates. Election observation teams from several countries have arrived in Myanmar to observe the polls.
Additionally, a total of 1,183 female parliamentary candidates are running in the general election, according to the country's Information Team of National Defence and Security Council, compared to 908 in 2020 and 799 in 2015.
Myanmar's last general election was held in November 2020, when Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won by a landslide.
In the ongoing election, the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party is expected to emerge as the winner. According to the Asian Network for Free Elections, most winning parties from the 2020 elections are not taking part in the current polls. Many opposition parties have chosen, instead, to boycott the election, which they argue has been manipulated.
Voting has been cancelled in 65 of Myanmar’s 330 townships, citing a lack of security. Most of these are controlled by opposition forces. More than 90 other towns will see only partial polling. Voter turnout is expected to be low.
Many have argued that the ongoing election is a way for the junta to legitimise their rule over Myanmar on the international stage. UN Rights Chief Volker Turk said, “These elections are clearly taking place in an environment of violence and repression.”
More than 200 people are being prosecuted for protesting the election. Most opposition activists have sided with ethnic minority guerrilla armies in the civil war against the junta. The conflict has killed around 90,000 people and displaced over 3.5 million others.
(With Inputs from IANS)
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