Polling is underway in Myanmar today for the first of three-phase general elections. This is the first vote in five years after the army overthrew the government of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021. The takeover triggered widespread popular opposition. The military has termed the latest polls as a return to multi-party democracy. Voting will be held in different parts of the country in three phases, with the second on January 11 and the third on January 25.

Today, polling will be held in 102 of the country’s 330 townships. However, voting has been cancelled in 56 townships. The army seized power on 1st February 2021, claiming the 2020 election, won in a landslide by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, was illegitimate because of alleged large-scale voter registration irregularities. Though 57 parties have fielded candidates, most are posting candidates only in their own home states or regions. Six parties are competing nationwide. In total, nearly 5,000 candidates are competing for more than 1,100 seats in the two chambers of the national legislature and in state and regional legislatures.

The Union Election Commission has yet to release the total number of eligible voters, but in 2020, there were more than 37 million. Aung San Suu Kyi and her party are not participating. The conflict in Myanmar, triggered by the 2021 coup, has killed an estimated 90,000 people and displaced more than 3.5 million, according to monitoring groups and the United Nations. It has left nearly half of the country’s population of 55 million in need of humanitarian assistance.