MYANMAR JUNTA’S PLANNED ELECTIONS: FALLING SHORT OF DEMOCRATIC LEGITIMACY January 2025) to grant broad powers to state agencies to monitor, target, and seize the assets of civil society groups, independent media, and political dissidents. As of September 2025, internet and communication networks have been shut down 405 times since the coup, according to the Myanmar Internet Project, and over 220 journalists have been arrested, denying the population’s basic right to information. On 29 July 2025, the SAC enacted the “Law on the Protection of Elections from Interference and Disruption”. This bill criminalizes any sabotage or disruption of the electoral process, with a punishment of at least three years in prison, and the death penalty for actions resulting in the death of a person. Destruction of election materials, EVMs, or polling stations can result in five to ten years in prison, or life imprisonment if committed as a group. In early September, a man was sentenced to seven years of hard labor, in the first documented case of the law being used to suppress criticism of the junta’s elections. The amended election laws published in August also punish any disruption of the elections with up to three years in prison. The military junta has weaponized restrictive laws to crack down on dissent and curtail fundamental freedoms, in violation of its international obligations. These sweeping attacks on human rights undermine the very foundation of the electoral process, which cannot be considered free or fair in such a prohibitive environment. Credible elections cannot exist if fundamental political rights are not upheld. Applicable international standards: • Freedom of assembly is recognized by Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), General Comment No. 37 by the UN Human Rights Committee, and Article 24 of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration. 22