10 | THE JUNTA’S ELECTIONS WILL FEATURE ONLY HANDPICKED POLITICAL PARTIES An in-depth analysis of the 2020 election results highlights how little legitimacy registered parties have. As a whole, they represent 43.0% of parties competing in the last general election, 26.8% of votes cast for Pyithu Hluttaw and Amyotha Hluttaw, and only 9.8% of the total number of seats across all elections held in November 2020. Most are politically insignificant and have never won a seat in previous elections. According to the UEC, 5,023 candidates were nominated by all 57 registered parties for phase 1 of the junta’s elections. The militarybacked Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) alone will field 1,048 candidates, including over 20 generals and senior junta officials. All registered political parties were extensively screened by the UEC and can be considered pro-military. They have been co-opted or propped up by the junta to create a façade of multi-party democracy and an illusion of choice in the upcoming elections. For more: • David Scott Mathieson, “Peace theater of the absurd in Myanmar” in Asia Times, 28 June 2025, https://asiatimes. com/2025/06/peace-theater-of-the-absurd-in-myanmar/ • [in Burmese] DVB, “ဥပဒေေနှှင့််�အညီီ တင််ပြ�သော်�်�လည်းး� ကြို�ု�တင််အကြော��ာင်းး� မကြား�း�ဘဲဲ ပါါတီီဖျျက််သိိမ်းး� ခံံရဟုု NDF ပါါတီီပြော��ာ”, 10 September 2025, https://www.dvb.no/post/723510 • Than Lwin Times, “Political Parties Contesting Elections “No Better than the Junta””, 4 July 2025, https://www.bnionline.net/ en/news/political-parties-contesting-elections-no-better-junta • The Irrawaddy, “Myanmar Political Parties Fear Mass Boycott of Junta’s Election”, 19 May 2025, https://www.irrawaddy.com/ news/burma/myanmar-political-parties-fear-mass-boycott-ofjuntas-election.html 45