(Adnkronos) – In Myanmar, the Union, Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), backed by the military, claims victory after the first phase of elections organized by the military junta in power since 2021 took place yesterday. “We won 82 out of a total of 102 seats in the lower house in the constituencies where the vote count has concluded,” a Party official, speaking anonymously, told Agence France-Presse, claiming victory in the eight constituencies of the capital Naypyidaw.
The official results have not yet been announced. The vote, in three phases, will continue on January 11 and 25.
The elections, the first since the February 2021 coup that brought the military junta led by General Min Aung Hlaing to power and sparked a civil war, have been presented by the military as a return to democracy, while many voices denounce an attempt to perpetuate the regime through “non-credible” elections marked by irregularities. Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, the country’s main political force, was dissolved after the coup. Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 1991, remains in prison. Many areas of the country are in the hands of rebel groups, and the army has acknowledged that, approximately, in one out of five constituencies, it was not possible to organize the vote.
