EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report demonstrates that the junta’s elections will take place in an environment of widespread violence, restrictive laws, and intense repression, and will feature dubious electronic voting machines, handpicked political parties, and no independent scrutiny from media or civil society, all in the hope that the international community will accept the results and restore relations with Myanmar. Our assessment reviews the junta’s upcoming elections according to established international standards and best practices for genuine democratic elections. These include fundamental rights such as freedom of assembly, freedom of association, freedom of expression, freedom of information, and freedom from fear, as well as election safety, integrity, transparency, inclusiveness, and the rule of law. They are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, the Bangkok Declaration of 1967, the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration of 2012, the Model Commitments for Advancing Genuine and Credible Elections, and the Global Network for Securing Electoral Integrity’s Principles for Democratic Electoral Reform Processes, among others. Through fifteen concise sections discussing different aspects of the electoral process, ANFREL will demonstrate that the elections staged by the junta in Myanmar do not align with international standards and cannot be considered credible or legitimate. These “sham elections”, as they have widely been referred to, have severe political and procedural shortcomings and cannot be a solution to the conflicts raging across Myanmar. Worse still, Min Aung Hlaing’s ruthless pursuit of international and domestic legitimacy means that people are being killed and will continue to die because of the junta’s elections. More than a question of legality, these elections raise profound moral concerns given the ongoing suffering of the population. 9