Myanmar's dominant pro-government party, which supports the military, is "winning a majority" in the first phase of elections organized by the junta. Human rights activists previously warned that these elections would only entrench military rule. A party source told AFP, writes UNN.
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The armed forces seized power in a 2021 coup, but on Sunday began voting in a month-long phased election that they say is intended to return power to the people.
The hugely popular but disbanded party of democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi was not on the ballots, and she herself remains imprisoned since the military coup that sparked a civil war.
Activists, Western diplomats, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights have condemned the elections, citing a harsh crackdown on dissent and a candidate list largely made up of military allies.
"The USDP is winning and gaining a majority of seats across the country, according to various reports," a party official in the capital Naypyidaw said, asking for anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Official results have not yet been released by Myanmar's Union Election Commission, with two more phases of voting scheduled for January 11 and 25.
The military annulled the results of the last 2020 elections after Suu Kyi's party - the National League for Democracy - crushed the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
After this, the military and the USDP claimed massive fraud, but international observers called these accusations baseless.
However, on Sunday, army commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing, who has ruled the country in an authoritarian manner for five years, said that the armed forces could be trusted to transfer power to a civilian government.
"We guarantee that these will be free and fair elections," he told reporters after voting in Naypyidaw. "They are organized by the military, and we cannot allow our name to be disgraced."
The military coup sparked a civil war: democracy supporters formed guerrilla units fighting alongside ethnic minority armies that have long resisted central authority.
Sunday's elections were to be held in 102 of the country's 330 constituencies - the largest of the three voting phases.
However, amid the war, the military admitted that it was impossible to hold elections in almost one in five lower house constituencies.
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