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Myanmar Junta Using New Election Law to Crack Down on Dissent Ahead of Sham Elections - Fortify Rights 12/16/25, 10:40 AM r displayed in downtown Yangon calls for a boycott of the junta’s planned election and urges the public to join a “Silent Strik er 10. ©Yangon People’s Strike Before the Election Protection Law was enacted, Myat Thu Kyaw, a contributing reporter for AAMIJ who was also a freelance photojournalist for international news agencies, was arrested on January 13, 2023, and remains in jail under Myanmar’s draconian Counter-Terrorism Law. In January 2023, he was arrested for photographing junta authorities with his mobile phone. He was https://www.fortifyrights.org/mya-inv-2025-12-10/ Page 6 of 16

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Myanmar Junta Using New Election Law to Crack Down on Dissent Ahead of Sham Elections

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Burmese
English

Topic

2025 elections
Digital Rights
Digital Surveillance
Sham Election
Surveillance

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Fortify Rights

Date Published: Dec 10, 2025

Abstract: he Myanmar military junta is using its new “Election Protection Law” to silence and intimidate critics ahead of its sham elections, said Fortify Rights today. The junta has announced that the first two phases of its staged elections will be on December 28, 2025, and January 11, 2026. The junta’s “elections” are already unfree and unfair and therefore lack legitimacy—many of Myanmar’s legitimately elected officials, including Aung San Suu Kyi and members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), as well as leaders of ethnic political parties, continue to be held in illegal detention, and the right to freedom of expression and speech, and almost all pro-democracy activity, is outlawed in the country.

In recent months, the junta has used its new election decree—formally titled The Law on the Protection of Multiparty Democratic General Elections from Obstruction, Disruption, and Destruction—to target anyone who opposes its orchestrated “elections.” The law criminalizes criticism and any speech, organizing, or protest that could be construed as disrupting the “electoral process.” Violations carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison or the death penalty.

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Myanmar Junta Using New Election Law to Crack Down on Dissent Ahead of Sham Elections - Fortify Rights.pdf
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Myanmar Junta Using New Election Law to Crack Down on Dissent Ahead of Sham Elections (MYA)-2.pdf
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Myanmar Internet Project

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Myanmar Junta Using New Election Law to Crack Down on Dissent Ahead of Sham Elections

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