Myanmar military prepares for nationwide census amid ongoing conflict and questions over election

Myanmar’s military government will conduct a nationwide population and household census in October, state media said on Monday, paving the way for a promised election next year amid raging conflict across swathes of the country.

The census data collected between Oct. 1-15 will be used to hold a general election next year, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing told a meeting on Sunday, state media reported.

“The census can be used in compilation of correct and accurate voter lists which is a basic need for successfully holding a free and fair multi-party democratic general election,” Min Aung Hlaing said separately in a televised speech on Sunday.

The proposed election has already been widely derided as a sham and the outcome is unlikely to be recognised by western countries, with dozens of parties disbanded for not registering to run, including the dominant National League for Democracy (NLD), whose  government  the junta toppled.

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The country of 55 million people has been in turmoil since February 2021 when the  military  ousted the popular administration of Nobel laureate and NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, citing fraud in an election it won two months earlier by a landslide.

Many NLD politicians including Suu Kyi were arrested, while those who fled said the junta’s allegations of fraud over voter lists were baseless and trumped-up to justify the coup.

Loss of control

The coup sparked widespread protests that were met with a brutal crackdown that transformed the demonstrations into an armed resistance movement. It has since combined with many established ethnic minority armies to become the most significant challenge to the  military  in decades.

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The  military  government  in July said 27 of the parties that have registered for the election have denounced the rebellion.

The junta does not have effective control of Myanmar, having lost complete authority over townships covering 86% of the country’s territory that houses 67% of the population, the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar said in a May report.

Earlier this year, thousands of young people also fled abroad after the junta’s call for conscription to replenish its weakened forces.

Last month, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi promised technological assistance for the census-taking process for the “all-inclusive election” at a meeting with Min Aung Hlaing, according to junta media.

The parallel National Unity  Government  (NUG), comprising former lawmakers and other junta opponents, said the international community and neighbouring countries should denounce the election and the census process.

“The junta has the intention to carry out a sham election and using the excuse of a census, they are collecting information from people which they will use to terrorise them,” its spokesperson Kyaw Zaw said.