Campaigners have criticized the election, citing a crackdown on the opposition.
Published December 29, 2025
Myanmar’s main pro-military party has claimed a commanding lead in the first phase of elections organized by the country’s military junta, as critics warn that the tightly controlled vote is aimed at cementing the ruling party’s position.
Following Sunday’s first round of voting, two more rounds will be held on January 11th and January 25th. Voting was canceled in 65 townships.
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A Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) official told AFP news agency that the party won 82 of the 102 lower house seats in the townships where vote counting had been completed, suggesting it had secured more than 80% of the seats contested in Sunday’s vote.
The official added that the party also won in all eight townships in the capital Naypyitaw. The Union Election Commission of Myanmar has not yet released official statistics.
The United Nations human rights chief has condemned the election, citing a crackdown on the opposition, while campaign groups have criticized the candidate list, which is dominated by military sympathizers.
The election was held in only about a third of Myanmar’s 330 townships, as much of the country is inaccessible due to fighting between the military and rebels following the 2021 military coup that ousted the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
The USDP is widely expected to become the largest party. Analysts have long described it as a civilian proxy for the military.
In the last election in 2020, the USDP suffered a crushing defeat to Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD). British campaigners say the NLD is one of 40 political parties banned by the military junta. Suu Kyi has been detained since the military seized power.
After Sunday’s vote ended, junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said he was confident the military would return power to the civilian-led government. He has ruled the country by decree since the coup.
The military’s takeover sparked a nationwide civil war, with democracy activists forming armed resistance groups along with ethnic minority groups that had been fighting the central government for years.
The conflict has killed an estimated 90,000 people, displaced approximately 3.5 million people, and left approximately 22 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, more than 22,000 people are currently detained for political crimes.
