NEW DELHI: India on Monday called for free, fair and inclusive elections in Myanmar to ensure a transition to democracy, amid growing concerns about the transparency and effectiveness of the electoral process.
Myanmar’s military junta has announced elections will be held in three phases, starting on December 28 and concluding in January. Early voting abroad began last week at a few Myanmar embassies, including in Hong Kong, Singapore, Chiang Mai and Bangkok.
However, the upcoming polls are restricted to only 274 of the country’s 330 townships, reflecting the junta’s lack of control over areas captured by resistance forces.
“India supports Myanmar’s transition to democracy and it is of the view that participation of all political stakeholders is important for the credibility of the electoral exercise that is to happen there,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a weekly media briefing on Monday.
The election should be free, fair and inclusive, he said. “India will continue to support all efforts that advance peace, dialogue and a return to normalcy in Myanmar,” Jaiswal added.
Jaiswal highlighted India’s role as a first responder in the context of natural disasters that have hit Myanmar, including the earthquake that killed more than 5,000 people in the neighbouring country in March. “We sent in a large team to provide relief to the people. We also provided humanitarian assistance and medical support. We had set up a temporary hospital there,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Jaiswal highlighted India’s role as a first responder in the context of natural disasters that have hit Myanmar, including the earthquake that killed more than 5,000 people in the neighbouring country in March. “We sent in a large team to provide relief to the people. We also provided humanitarian assistance and medical support. We had set up a temporary hospital there,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“Subsequent to that, we continued to offer whatever help that we can so that the people’s lives can come back to normal.”
Concerns have grown in recent weeks about the fairness of the upcoming election in Myanmar.
Last week, the junta-stacked Union Election Commission announced that voting in 1,585 village areas had been called off. In September, the junta said its long-promised election would not be held in about one in seven national parliament constituencies.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on foreign governments to reject the Myanmar junta’s plans to hold elections from late December 2025 to January 2026 “because they will not be free, fair or inclusive”. HRW said that since the February 2021 military coup, the junta has systematically dismantled the rule of law and the country’s democratic systems, and that it has ramped up repression and violence ahead of the polls.
The military junta also introduced new legislation ahead of the polls, including clauses to punish protests or criticism of the election with up to a decade in prison.
In recent years, Myanmar has been engulfed in a civil war, with the military fighting people’s defence forces and ethnic armed organisations. Thousands of resistance members and politicians, including Aung San Suu Kyi, have been imprisoned.
The junta continues to control all the major population centres, but resistance forces have captured large swathes of territory, townships and key border crossing points along the frontiers with Bangladesh, China and India.