UN expert urges world leaders to reject Myanmar ‘sham’ election – JURIST

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar urged the international community on Thursday to reject Myanmar’s recent election, describing it as a “sham” that exposed the “coercion, violence, and exclusion” driving the voting process.

After the first round of voting, Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews said the polls failed to meet any standard of legitimacy and were “engineered” to ensure victory for the military junta. He called on governments and international bodies to intensify efforts to isolate the junta and increase pressure on its leaders to cancel the election altogether.

Andrews emphasized, “You cannot have a free, fair or credible election when thousands of political prisoners are behind bars, credible opposition parties have been dissolved, journalists are muzzled, and fundamental freedoms are crushed.”

Earlier reports documented intensified violence in the lead-up to the election, as the military sought to suppress dissent. Junta officials have reportedly pressured internally displaced people to participate in the polls by threatening to restrict access to necessities. 

The election took place on December 28. According to official results, the junta’s proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, won about 90 percent of the contested seats in the lower house of Parliament. Two additional rounds of voting are scheduled for January 11 and January 25. 

Myanmar’s military authorities overthrew the elected government in the February 2021 coup. Since then, the country has plunged into widespread armed conflict, with violence escalating between the military and resistance forces across multiple regions.

The proxy party replaces the National League for Democracy (NLD), which won landslide victories in Myanmar’s 2015 and 2020 general elections before the coup. NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been in detention since the military seized power, and her whereabouts and conditions remain unknown.

Andrews’ statement echoes a warning issued by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk in December 2025. Türk called on the military authorities to “stop using brutal violence to compel people to vote, and stop arresting people for expressing any dissenting views.”

Regional and international bodies have also taken steps to distance themselves from the military authorities. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has continued to bar Myanmar’s junta leader from its high-level summits, citing the regime’s failure to comply with the bloc’s peace commitments. The European Union does not recognize the military regime but remains one of the largest providers of humanitarian assistance to the Myanmar population.

These developments unfold as international scrutiny of Myanmar’s military leadership continues to intensify. On January 5, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing pardoned more than 6,100 prisoners, which critics argue is politically motivated. The International Court of Justice is set to hear the merits of the Rohingya genocide case on January 12, placing the military authorities under renewed international judicial pressure.