In Mongyawng Township, eastern Shan State, the junta has threatened and pressured residents to vote in the election without fail.

The junta is holding the election in phases, with Phase 2 voting scheduled for January 11 in 17 townships in Shan State, including Mongyawng, Mongkhet, Mongping, and Mongton.

“People don’t want to go vote, but they’re also worried the junta will punish them if they don’t. The authorities are putting pressure on everyone to cast their ballots,” a Mongyawng resident told Shan Herald.

The junta’s top officials are pressuring community administrators to ensure a high turnout, and those administrators are coercing people to vote without fail.

“As their superiors pressured them, the ward and village administrators forced locals to vote without fail,” the aforementioned source added.

On January 6, officials from the Mongyawng Township General Administration Office held a meeting at Bala Min Htin Hall in Mongyawng Town to discuss the successful conduct of Phase 2 elections, the junta announced.

In Mongyawng Township, alongside the coup regime’s troops, the junta-aligned Border Guard Force, National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), and Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) are also active.

On August 28 last year, clashes broke out when about 100 members of the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 335 (LIB 335) from Mongyawng Town, along with junta-aligned militias, advanced toward Wankawng Village Tract, where the RCSS was active.