Voting will not be held in areas covering about 30 percent of Mon State in the upcoming junta-run election, which will take place in phases starting December 28, the junta-controlled Union Election Commission (UEC) has acknowledged.
During the military conflicts following the coup, resistance forces were unable to capture any townships in Mon State. However, the junta excluded areas with strong resistance movements from the vote, as they were not fully under its control.
In Phase 1 and 2 voting, scheduled for December 28, 2025, and January 11, 2026, ballot boxes will not be available in certain constituencies across Mon State's seven townships, the junta-controlled state media has acknowledged.
According to a December 6 report in junta-controlled newspapers, 140 village tracts across Kyaikto, Kyaikmaraw, Thaton, Bilin, Paung, Thanbyuzayat, and Ye townships will be excluded from Phase 1 and 2 voting.
The UEC justified the exclusion of the 140 village tracts from the voting process, citing the lack of suitable conditions to conduct free and fair elections.
Mon State has a total of 10 townships, but under the current situation, ballot boxes will be available in all constituencies only in Mawlamyine, Chaungzon, and Mudon, while parts of the remaining seven townships will not hold voting.
The junta's admission that voting will not take place in 140 of Mon State's 468 village tracts means that nearly 30 percent of the state will be excluded from the election.
Not only in parts of Mon State, but also nationwide, the junta has lost control over many areas, leaving multiple constituencies where elections cannot be held, said Nai Tala Nai, head of the Defense Department of the Mon State Federal Council (MSFC).
“The junta hasn’t just lost parts of Mon State, it’s lost control over vast areas across Myanmar. Yet it’s pushing ahead with the election in a forceful manner, ignoring the reality on the ground. Nationwide, the areas controlled by resistance forces are far larger than those under the junta’s control,” he told Than Lwin Times.
When analyzing the village tracts in Mon State townships where Phase 1 voting will not be held, Kyaikmaraw has the highest number with 31, followed by Kyaikto with 27 and Thaton with 17. Among the Mon State townships scheduled for Phase 2 voting, 28 villages in Bilin, 10 in Thanbyuzayat, 23 in Ye, and 4 in Paung are on the list of villages where voting will not be held.
Armed resistance groups, which control parts of these townships, especially the rural areas, have also carried out military operations, leaving the junta in full control only of the towns and urban centers.
“It’s true that resistance forces controlling these territories makes it hard for the junta to hold the votes. But an even bigger reason is that the public simply doesn’t accept its rule,” said Ko Aye Min Tun, an official from the People’s Defence Force – Thaton District (PDF-Thaton).
The junta, which seized power illegally in the 2021 coup, is planning to hold a sham election to try to gain legitimacy. It has announced that the election will be conducted in three phases. The UEC had previously stated that voting would take place in 102 townships in Phase 1 and 100 townships in Phase 2. However, with just three weeks to go until Phase 1, the UEC has now admitted that voting will not be held in 2,931 village tracts across those 202 townships.
Voting will take place in almost all constituencies in Myanmar’s most populous Yangon Region and the junta’s administrative capital, Naypyidaw, but the UEC has admitted that nearly 3,000 constituencies in certain towns, villages, and wards across the remaining states and regions will not hold voting.
Captain Zin Yaw, a former junta officer who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), in which civil servants and security personnel refuse to work for the regime, said the junta is struggling with security challenges because it cannot control many areas despite its reckless push to hold the election.
“The junta can now provide security only to a handful of government employees who stayed on despite the CDM and to some pro-junta communities. It no longer has effective control over vast areas. By announcing that voting won’t be possible in so many constituencies, the junta is basically admitting that its control is shrinking, and in doing so, it’s effectively saying it can’t hold nationwide elections anymore,” said Captain Zin Yaw.
The junta has very little chance of holding voting in Arakan (Rakhine) State, where the Arakan Army (AA) has made significant military gains and controls most townships. Even in Kayukpyun and Sittwe townships, which remain under junta control, ongoing military tensions have forced the coup regime to exclude 71 village tracts from the upcoming election.
Similarly, in northern Shan State, voting will not be held in some constituencies of Lashio Township, even though the junta has regained control of Lashio City, the township’s capital. The UEC listed 64 village tracts in Lashio and Naungcho (Nawnghkio) townships as unable to hold voting.
Furthermore, the junta has long acknowledged that holding voting in the 56 townships controlled by resistance forces would be impossible.
