Myanmar Kicks Off Voting in Final Election Phase

(MENAFN) Voting commenced Sunday in Myanmar's third and concluding election phase, spanning 63 townships nationwide, local media outlets confirmed.

Ballot casting launched in the morning hours and will extend until 4 pm local time (0930GMT), media reported.

Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, serving as the nation's acting president, conducted visits to polling locations throughout the Mandalay region.

The second voting phase occurred Jan. 11 across 100 townships countrywide, following the initial phase on Dec. 28 in 102 townships.

Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Htun, commanding the junta's information division, announced earlier this month that a new parliament would assemble in March after electoral completion, with a fresh government anticipated to assume power in April.

These elections will determine Union Parliament membership, encompassing both legislative chambers, alongside state and regional assemblies. The newly constituted parliament will subsequently select a president tasked with forming the next administration.

Myanmar's previously elected government, headed by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, was toppled in a 2021 coup, sending the nation into over four years of emergency governance.

This electoral exercise represents the first since that military takeover.

Myanmar operates a bicameral parliamentary system comprising 664 seats—440 in the lower chamber, 224 in the upper chamber.

Forty political organizations were disbanded in 2023, including the National League for Democracy. In the present contest, a minimum of six parties—fielding nearly 5,000 candidates—are participating.

At the regional tier, 57 parties are competing. The military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party has nominated over 1,000 candidates.

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