The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) has closely monitored developments surrounding the Myanmar military junta’s preparations for elections scheduled to begin tomorrow, 28 December 2025. Based on prevailing political, security, and human rights conditions, ANFREL assesses that the environment in which these elections are being organized fails to meet minimum requirements for democratic participation or credible electoral processes.

ANFREL is gravely alarmed by intensified violence against civilians nationwide, including airstrikes¹, shelling, arbitrary arrests², and village raids that disproportionately affect women, children, and ethnic minority communities³. Such a situation makes it impossible to guarantee voter safety or conduct electoral activities freely or fairly. Elections held amid ongoing armed conflict and systematic human rights violations cannot reflect the will of the people.

Large areas of the country are expected to be excluded from the polls due to conflict, resistance control, and administrative collapse, particularly in ethnic and resistance-held areas⁴. The systematic exclusion of significant segments of the population raises serious concerns about the representativeness and inclusiveness of the process and fails to meet basic democratic standards.

In addition, ANFREL raises serious doubts about the credibility of voter turnout figures and election results to be announced by the junta control Union Election Commission. In the absence of independent observation, transparent procedures, free media, and trusted electoral institutions, any declared results will lack legitimacy.

Taken together, these conditions demonstrate that the junta-planned elections lack legitimacy, inclusiveness, and integrity. Elections conducted under military rule, amid widespread conflict and repression, cannot contribute to democratic transition or political stability and risk further entrenching illegitimate rule and violence.

Our call

ANFREL therefore calls on the international community to remain vigilant and to refrain from recognizing or legitimizing any outcomes of this deeply flawed process. International support for democracy in Myanmar must instead prioritize civilian protection, accountability for human rights violations, and inclusive political dialogue that reflects the genuine aspirations of the Myanmar people.

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For media inquiries and other information, please contact: anfrel@anfrel.org

1. Data from ACLED indicate that military offensives, particularly airstrikes, have intensified in 2025 compared to 2024. Between 1 January 2021 and 28 November 2025, the junta carried out 2,602 airstrikes, compared to 2,035 in 2024, resulting in at least 1,971 civilian deaths. https://acleddata.com/report/ahead-elections-myanmars-military-capitalizes-foreign-support-divide-resistance
   In recent times junta has made heavier investment in drone technology and ACLED data also shows that Myanmar now ranks third globally for the number of drone events recorded, only behind Ukraine and Russia. https://acleddata.com/report/war-sky-how-drone-warfare-shaping-conflict-myanmar ↩︎
2. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), as of 24 December 2025, 30,187 people have been arrested, with 22,679 currently detained, including 11,425 serving prison sentences. https://aappb.org/?p=35672 ↩︎
3. Ahead of the elections, the junta has intensified its military campaign in Chin State, deploying hundreds of troops to secure key roads and expand control in Falam and Hakha townships. According to the Chin Human Rights Organization. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Fw2qBszdc/ ↩︎
4. On 5 December, the junta-controlled Union Election Commission (UEC) announced that elections would not be held in 2,931 wards and village tracts across townships designated for Phases 1 and 2, implicitly acknowledging the severely limited geographic reach of the polls. These cancellations cover 133 wards and 1,306 village tracts in Phase 1, and 28 wards and 1,464 village tracts in Phase 2, together accounting for approximately 17 per cent of all wards and village tracts nationwide, in addition to the 56 townships where elections had already been formally cancelled. On 25 December 2025, the UEC further announced that Phase 3 elections, scheduled for 25 January 2026, will proceed in only 63 of the 72 townships initially planned, with elections cancelled in the remaining nine townships. ↩︎

DOWNLOAD THE FULL STATEMENT HERE: “ANFREL Statement on the Democratic and Human Rights Implications of Myanmar’s Junta-Planned Elections“