Myanmar is going to the polls in a electoral process broadly rejected as a farce, with major political parties dissolved, many of their leaders jailed and a significant portion of the country unlikely to vote because of an continuing civil war.
The military government is holding a staggered election nearly half a decade after it took control in a takeover, which sparked widespread opposition and escalated into a devastating conflict.
Observers say the military regime, with backing from Beijing, is attempting to validate and entrench its power as it looks for a way out of the costly stalemate.
"There are no conditions for the exercise of the freedoms of freedom of expression, association or peaceful protest," the United Nations' top human rights official Volker Türk said.
More than 200 people have been prosecuted for disrupting or opposing the polls under a new law which carries severe punishments, including the possibility of execution.
Film director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and entertainer Ohn Daing were among the prominent figures convicted under the law, which was passed in July. They were each given a prison sentence of seven years after speaking out against a promotional video promoting the elections.
Civilians are "facing pressure from all sides," Mr Türk noted in a statement, adding that resistance forces have issued their own threats asking people to shun the polls.
The military has been engaged on several fronts, against both armed resistance groups who oppose the coup, as well as ethnic armed organisations which have their own militias. It lost control of vast areas of the country in a string of defeats, but regained territory this year following relentless airstrikes enabled by support from Beijing and Moscow.
All of this and the fact that large parts of the country are still under rebel administration presents a huge logistical challenge for holding an election.
The ballot is set to take place in three rounds over the coming weeks in two hundred and seventy-four of the country's 330 townships, with the rest deemed too unstable. Outcomes are expected by late January.
There is unlikely to be any voting in as much as one half of the country. Even in the townships that are voting, some districts will go to the polls, making it challenging to forecast a likely turnout.
Six parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, are fielding candidates nationwide, while dozens more parties and non-aligned contenders will compete only at the local levels.
Some 40 parties, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, which scored landslide victories in 2015 and 2020, have been dissolved. Suu Kyi and many of the party's key leaders have been jailed under charges broadly viewed as fabricated, while the rest are in hiding abroad.
"By splitting the vote into phases, the authorities can change their approach if the results in the first phase do not go their way," commented Htin Kyaw Aye, a spokesman of the election-monitoring group Spring Sprouts.
Western governments, including the UK and the European Parliament, have rejected the vote as a sham, while regional bloc Asean has urged political dialogue to come before any election.
The Burmese junta has rejected criticism of the polls, insisting that it aims to "restore a multi-party democratic system".
"This vote is being held for our nation. It is being held for the people of this country. It is not intended for the outside world," a junta spokesman stated at a briefing last week.
Military leader Min Aung Hlaing cautioned earlier this week that those who choose not to participate are turning their back on "the path to democracy".
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