Polls in Myanmar have closed after a third and final stage of voting in what are widely viewed as sham elections.Many popular parties are banned from standing and voting has not been possible in large areas of the country because of a five-year-long civil war.The dominant party backed by the ruling military junta is expected to win a landslide victory.The current regime has rejected international criticism of the election, maintaining that it is free and fair.Around one-fifth of the country’s 330 townships, including the cities of Yangon and Mandalay, voted in the last stage. Six parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), fielded candidates nationwide, while another 51 parties and independent candidates decided to contest state and regional levels.Two previous rounds were held on 28 December and 11 January – giving overwhelming victories to the USDP.The party won only 6% of parliamentary seats in the last free election in 2020.As in previous rounds of this strange, month-long election, voting was orderly and peaceful at the polling station in Nyaungshwe, Shan State, which a BBC team observed. Set in a large school, shaded by huge rain trees, there were ample volunteers an officials to guide voters where to go, and how to make their choice using the new, locally-made electronic voting machines. You could be forgiven for believing this was a normal democratic exercise, not the sham its critics say it is.However polling day was preceded by a campaigning period marked by fear, intimidation and a pervasive sense that little will change after the inevitable victory by the USDP. Everywhere the BBC team travelled in southern Shan State, we were fo …
