Myanmar Military Government Sets Election Date for December 28

By Faith Barbara N Ruhinda at 1301 EAT on Monday 18 August 2025

Myanmar’s military government has announced that long-promised national elections will begin on December 28, despite growing scepticism over whether the polls will be free or fair under the current regime.

The Union Election Commission said on Monday that the vote would mark the first phase of a “step-by-step” general election process.

“Further dates for the remaining phases of the election will be announced in due course,” the Union Election Commission said.

According to state media, around 55 political parties have registered to participate in the polls, including nine that plan to contest seats nationwide.

The announcement follows last month’s decision by Myanmar’s military administration, led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, to lift the state of emergency in parts of the country in preparation for elections scheduled for December and January.

The military imposed emergency rule after seizing power in a February 2021 coup that ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Opposition groups, including Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), have pledged to boycott the upcoming elections, denouncing them as a sham designed to cement Min Aung Hlaing’s grip on power.

Myanmar has been engulfed in civil conflict since the 2021 coup, with large swaths of territory under the control of various ethnic armed organizations and resistance groups, including the People’s Defence Force (PDF), the Arakan Army (AA), and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).

The country last held general elections in November 2020, when the NLD won by a landslide. The military rejected the results, alleging widespread electoral fraud—claims that were never substantiated—before detaining Suu Kyi and scores of other elected leaders.

Independent election observers, including the Asian Network for Free Elections and The Carter Center, rejected the military’s claims of widespread fraud, stating that the 2020 election results broadly reflected the will of the people.

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