Cartoon

The military junta's move toward an election is widely condemned as a cynical political maneuver designed to secure a false veneer of legitimacy, rather than a genuine exercise in democracy. Amidst ongoing violence, martial law, the imprisonment of political opponents, and the dissolution of major opposition parties, the planned vote lacks the necessary conditions—such as freedom, fairness, and safety—to be credible, and is instead viewed as a carefully staged exercise intended solely to entrench the military's permanent authoritarian control over the country.