Junta chief vows to complete Myanmar census by year-end -- then hold elections

By Wai Mar Tun for RFA Burmese2024.11.20

Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese.

During his recent visit to China, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing promised top Communist Party officials that his regime will complete a census by the end of the year — then hold “free and fair elections,” he revealed on Tuesday.

Min Aung Hlaing said he will invite international observers to monitor the vote — which opponents and rebel leaders have said would be a sham, and a way to legitimize the military’s grip on power.

On Nov. 6, he traveled to Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan province, where he met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on the sidelines of a regional summit. The trip marked his first trip to China since Myanmar’s military seized power in a February 2021 coup d’etat.

On Tuesday, the junta leader told his Cabinet that he informed Li and other Chinese officials that his regime has collected census data covering 63% of Myanmar’s population and plans to complete the census before the new year.

myanmar-election-census_11202024-02 A census enumerator, right, asks questions to a family in Naypyitaw, Myanmar Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024 as the country holds a national census to compile voter lists for a general election. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo) (AP)

The census, aimed at tallying potential voters ahead of the 2025 elections, has met strong opposition from the country’s ethnic armed groups who say preparations for a nationwide vote are impossible while they battle a regime that continues to arrest and kill its critics.

Since the country’s coup, the junta has been under pressure from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to hold elections.

But the regime has continued to extend a state of emergency across the country and brought in tough new registration laws that disqualify many parties from standing, including the National League for Democracy, or NLD, deposed after winning a landslide victory in the 2020 election.

Despite opposition from Myanmar’s ethnic groups, Min Aung Hlaing said Tuesday that he told Chinese leaders they are willing to participate in an election to pursue their collective interests through legal means.

‘No victory without popular support’

Aye Mya Mya Myo, who was elected as a lawmaker to the Yangon Region Parliament in 2020, dismissed the junta chief’s promises, telling RFA Burmese that “no matter what propaganda he employs,” the ballot will never enjoy widespread support.

“No country that values human rights can believe that a regime responsible for widespread killing and oppression is capable of holding a fair election,” she said. “While some nations that disregard democratic principles and human rights, despite promoting peace and stability, may back the junta, it will never achieve victory without the support of the people.”

Tun Kyi, a former political prisoner, told RFA that the junta is determined to hold elections “by any means necessary.” He also criticized the Chinese government’s support of the junta’s actions, which he said “encourages criminal behavior.”

“The Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party are collaborating with the criminal leader Min Aung Hlaing, contributing to the problems in our country,” he said.

Myanmar’s junta chief Gen. Min Aung Hlaing inspects officers during a parade to commemorate Myanmar\'s 78th Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo) — myanmar-election-census_11202024-04 Myanmar’s junta chief Gen. Min Aung Hlaing inspects officers during a parade to commemorate Myanmar\’s 78th Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo) (AP)

“The public will likely face various forms of pressure to vote. By supporting the junta forces responsible for violent attacks on civilians, the Chinese government and Communist Party are, in effect, endorsing and aiding criminals.”

No mandate for junta

Most people in Myanmar object to the military’s 2021 coup and the junta’s plans for an election, and are fighting to restore the results of the country’s 2020 vote, which saw the NLD win a sweeping victory.

But despite popular sentiment, Min Aung Hlaing said he told Chinese leaders during his trip that the 2020 ballot was rife with voter fraud and that the junta had “taken effective action” against the party to prevent any meddling in the upcoming election.

He also said that next year’s election will be conducted using an electronic voting system, divided by region “for security reasons.”

The junta has repeatedly said that it will ensure voter lists are accurate ahead of the ballot, but the claim has been widely dismissed by observers.

Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.