A dismal voter turnout was reported across the majority
of polling areas. Residents reported a record-low
turnout in Yangon, and empty polling stations were
seen across the region - a stark contrast to the queues of
eager voters in 2020.4 In Thailand, where approximately
6 million people from Burma reside, only about 250
people voted. 5 In Chin State, less than 5% of voter-aged
residents cast a vote.6
ALTSEAN-Burma calculated that the
regime’s “nationwide election” excluded
about 10.5 million voters, or 30% of all
eligible voters, from voting. This included
over 4 million from the 67 excluded
townships and over 6.4 million in excluded
village tracts and wards in 131 included
townships.
Calculations: https://tinyurl.com/yz7a4xm3
In Burma, there are an estimated 35 million eligible
voters.7 However, the junta announced only 24.22 million
eligible voters across the 263 townships it could hold polling in. Despite this, only 13.14 million people
voted, many by force, revealing the fundamental illegitimacy of the process. 8 An estimated 11.08 million
eligible voters boycotted.
Voter turnout was almost half of the 2020 general election turnout at 25.9 million. Following the 3
phases, the UEC claimed a 55% voter turnout, considerably lower than the 2020 general election turnout
which was 76%.9 Over 10.5 million citizens — 30% of the total eligible population (35 million) — were
excluded from voting entirely.10 Thus, the sham election claimed a mandate from a mere 38% of the national
electorate.
Coercion & Fraud
●
The junta weaponized the vote through widespread coercion and threats, including door-todoor intimidation, forced conscription, job termination, denial of essential documents, and
physical dragging to polling stations, yet still faced mass boycott and dismal turnout.
●
It systematically used fraudulent advance ballots to manufacture USDP “victories.”
●
The regime enforced the sham process through violent repression, arrests, and forced voting,
while openly promoting perpetrators of genocide.
Where voting did occur, the junta turned the ballot into a weapon. Administrators, militias, and security
forces forced people to vote under threat of arrest, door-to-door intimidation, forced conscription,
rejection of travel documents, overseas travel bans, confiscation of border passes, job termination, fines,
and denial of aid, compensation, or replacement land for homes destroyed by fire.
Intimidation, violence, and fear fail to raise voter turnout
The junta enforced voting through threats and intimidation. The regime ordered junta staff, soldiers’
families, and overseas staff to vote for the USDP and provide proof of voting. 11 Junta officials also ordered
factories and workshops to shut down, then forced factory managers to make workers vote, though many
bravely refused. 12 The USDP pressured IDPs who had been displaced by armed conflict to vote in
4
5
Mizzima (25 Jan 2026) Voter participation hits record low in Yangon as final phase of general election concludes
Myanmar Now (28 Dec 2025) အတ ကာက် တ ာ်းတ ကာငို့် အချ ြို့တ တွ စစ် တပ် တ ွ ်းတကာက်ပဲွတွင် မဲ ထ ညို့်ခဲို့ က သည်
6
DVB (7 Jan 2026) စစ် တပ် တ ွ ်းတကာက်ပဲက
ွ ို ချင်းပပည်နယ်က ပပည်သူ ၈၀ ာခိုင်နန်းတကျာ် မဲမတပ်း
7
Union Election Commission (2024) ဆနဒမဲတပ်းမ အတပခအတန စစ်တဆ်းတတွြို့ ရချက်မျာ်း
8
Global New Light of Myanmar (25 Jan 2026) International Election Observers Welcomed, Briefed on Phase III General Election
IFES (6 Feb 2026) Myanmar
10
Union Election Commission (2024) ဆနဒမဲတပ်းမ အတပခအတန စစ်တဆ်းတတွြို့ ရချက်မျာ်း
9
11
DVB (28 Dec 2025) ဝန်ထမ််းမျာ်းမဲတပ်းပပီ်းတ ကာင်း အတထာက်အထာ်း တင်ပပ န် စစ်တကာင်စီ အကျပ် ကိုင်
12
DVB (25 Jan 2026) စစ်တ ကာင်စီ အလိုပ်သမာ်းဝန်ကကီ်း အလိုပ်သမာ်းမျာ်းထမ မဲ
န် ခက်ခဲ
4