Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing

MYANMAR: JUNTA IMPOSES DEATH SENTENCE TO CRUSH ELECTION DISSENT

August 20, 2025:

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlain has imposed harsh new punishments for disrupting his planned December election – including the death penalty – as the regime seeks to crush dissent ahead of the vote.
The new electoral law was introduced on July 29, 2025, five months before the planned poll, amid rising security concerns after a string of high-profile assassinations targeting military supporters and retired officers in junta-controlled areas like Yangon.
Analysts say the law is intended to ease concerns of election staff and political parties registered for the junta’s poll while quashing dissent.
The new law imposes 3-5 years in prison for election sabotage; 5-10 years for damaging ballot boxes, polling stations, or voting machines (or life imprisonment if committed as a group); and 10-20 years for causing serious injury to voters, polling staff, candidates, or election officials.
Any offense resulting in death is punishable by execution.
Election security will be overseen by a central committee chaired by the minister of home affairs, with the deputy minister of defense serving as deputy chair and national police chief as secretary. The committee is tasked with monitoring activities of domestic and international organizations during the election, taking action against anyone disrupting the poll, and forming local committees.
The Ministry of Home Affairs will provide personal security for elected candidates where necessary, while local police are tasked with protecting election staff and candidates.
An election staffer from Wa Self-Administered Division, an autonomous enclave controlled by the United Wa State Army in northern Shan State, said no instructions had been received from the junta’s Union Election Commission on poll preparations.
Critics say the new law echoes legislation enacted by former junta leader Than Shwe, which outlawed any challenge to the National Convention – a sham process to entrench military rule under the guise of democratic reform. The highest penalty under that law was 20 years in prison.
Min Aung Hlaing has raised the punishment to life imprisonment or even death.
While the regime claims the legislation will help guarantee peaceful and successful elections, analysts warn it will be used to intimidate the public – the majority of whom are against the proposed poll – into silence.
Besides the Election Protection Law, the junta has amended rules governing elections for the Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House), Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House) and region and state parliaments. On July 28, it also added a second amendment to the Political Parties Registration Law.
Although preparations are taking shape and campaigning is expected to start by late September, the junta has yet to name the Election Day – saying only that voting will be held in phases from December to January.
The regime has lost control of more than 80 towns – many in the ethnic Rakhine, Chin and Shan states – casting serious doubt on the UEC’s claim it can hold voting in 267 out of the country’s 330 townships. The claim has also prompted speculation that the regime will use conscripts to guard polling stations in conflict zones.
The poll plan has been denounced by Western democracies, Myanmar’s civilian National Unity Government, and numerous pro-democracy groups, as a political maneuver designed to cement military rule under the guise of democratic transition. Meanwhile, current ASEAN chair Malaysia says hostilities must end before any credible poll can take place.
In contrast, neighboring countries including China, India and Thailand – as well as fellow ASEAN member Cambodia and the junta’s major arms suppliers, Russia and Belarus – have expressed support for the election plan.