Myanmar pro-military party declares victory in junta-run polls

The military snatched power in a 2021 coup, ending Myanmar's experiment with civilian rule and triggering civil war, but pledged a three-phase vote, which finished on Sunday, would return power to the people.

With massively popular democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi detained and her party dissolved, critics say the ballot was stacked with army allies to prolong their grip on power.

Voting was not held in huge patches of the country controlled by rebel factions fighting in the civil war -- another hurdle cited by those questioning the poll's mandate.

"We won a majority already," a senior official from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to share preliminary results.

"We are in the position to form a new government," they said. "As we won in the election, we will move forward."

Many analysts describe the USDP -- which is staffed by retired senior officers -- as a civilian proxy of the military, which has stage-managed the poll to give its rule a veneer of civilian legitimacy.

"They won since before the election," said one 28-year-old Yangon resident, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

"They were the only ones in the race, and they were the referee," they added. "Almost everyone won't have faith in the government they will form."

Official results are expected later this week.
'Never in doubt'
The USDP comfortably won the opening two phases of the election on December 28 and January 11.

A quarter of unelected parliamentary seats will be reserved for members of the armed forces, under the terms of a constitution drafted during a previous stint of military rule.

A combined house majority of MPs will elect the president after parliament convenes in March.

Touring Mandalay city polling stations in civilian dress on Sunday, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing again declined to rule out serving as the new government's president.

While the military has touted the poll as an opportunity for reconciliation, rebel factions regard it as illegitimate, and conflict monitors say it is unlikely to stymy the civil war.

Elections were called off in one in five of Myanmar's townships amid the fighting, but the military waged a withering pre-poll offensive, including attacks rights groups allege may include war crimes.

In junta-held territory, dissent has been purged, with new laws punishing protest or criticism of the election with up to a decade in prison.

Parties that won 90 percent of seats in 2020 did not appear on the ballot this time, the Asian Network for Free Elections said.

More than 22,000 people are languishing in junta jails, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group.

"While the election results within Myanmar have never been in doubt, the election result that matters most is the response of the international community," UN expert Tom Andrews said last week.

"International acceptance of this fraudulent exercise would set back the clock on genuine resolution to this crisis."