Even the mildest public criticism of Myanmar’s military rulers is punished with ferocious jail terms. But in private, hostility to the army and the election is widespread and bitter.
Myanmar heads to the polls for the second phase of the election on Sunday, nearly five years after the country’s military authorities seized power in a 2021 coup.
The ruling junta promises that the three-phase vote will finally bring political stability to the region. But critics have already warned of widespread coercion, exclusion and violence throughout the first phase at the end of December.
Housewife AyeAye bravely told The Independent that she does not plan to vote in the election, widely considered a sham.
“This is a fake election intended to create long-term oppression,” said the 54-year-old. “Everyone knows Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is power-hungry. He has arrested tens of thousands of innocent people.
“Thousands have been killed. Hundreds of thousands have fled their homes. Many houses have been burned, and hundreds of monasteries, churches, and mosques have been destroyed. Why, knowing all that, would I vote?”
AyeAye said her daughter had been imprisoned for 10 years in 2022 for criticising the military online. She said her husband lost his job as an estate agent due to rising inflation, and their two sons have now fled abroad to avoid conscription.
“It’s not just my family: all my relatives, too, have decided not to vote. No one can change our decision. Whatever threats the authorities make, I don’t care,” she said.
“I worry not only about my youngest daughter, but also about our leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. My family, relatives, and friends respect and love her like our own mother. I cry for her and for my daughter every night.
“My only wish is for my daughter [to] come home again so I can embrace her, and to see Suu Kyi’s innocent smile again, and hear her encouraging voice.”
Suu Kyi and her elected government were displaced by the 2021 coup. She now faces a 27-year sentence for charges including incitement, corruption and election fraud, all of which she denies.
Voter turnout in the first round of the election held on 28 December was reportedly very low, despite junta coercion and the pervasive fear of retaliation, the UN said this week.
Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, which won landslide victories in general elections held in 2015 and 2020, did not appear on the ballot after it was dissolved by the junta.
Gyi, a 65-year-old barber, said hope was waning that the 80-year-old former leader might one day return.
“Aung San Suu Kyi is our hero and the ideal leader of our country. She never gives up, never kneels, never bows her head,” they said.
“But now she is 80 and getting weaker, and we are very worried about her health. We still hope she will return, but our light of hope is slowly fading. There are rumours that she has died in prison. We pray they are not true.
“This election is completely fake. The point of it is to create a fake civilian government, get Myanmar back into the UN General Assembly, and continue stealing our money and natural resources.”
On Thursday, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, urged the international community to unequivocally reject the election results.
“The results of the first round of voting in what the military junta of Myanmar claims is a legitimate ‘election’ are in, and they are conclusive,” Andrews said.
“By all measures, this is not a free, fair or legitimate election. It is a theatrical performance that has exerted enormous pressure on the people of Myanmar to participate in what has been designed to dupe the international community,” he said.
“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.
“The junta has spent nearly five years dismantling the basic foundations of democratic participation and now wants the world to accept an empty parody of an election.”
Moe, a 48-year-old flower seller, was not planning to vote either and, like many, has bitter experiences with the junta.
The widowed mother of five said she hated the military for forcing her eldest son into the army, where he was killed last year.
“My eldest son, 28, was a good boy. He took care of the family and we depended on him, but early last year the authorities ordered him to join the army.
“We are a poor family and did not have enough money to pay a bribe to get him out of it,” she said.
Her son was paid the equivalent of £68 a month for active service. Within a month, his mother had lost contact with him.
“Many times I contacted the army office but they always said the same thing: ‘Don’t worry, your son is fine.’ But then a friend of my son’s who had defected phoned and told me he had died in battle. My heart was broken, my life collapsed. I never received any salary or compensation, not even an apology.”
“I hate the Burmese military for what they did. I decided not to support them in any way. That’s why I’m not going to vote,” she said.
“I don’t understand politics. I only know that I lost my son because of it. I just want him back.”
