Myanmar to hold first phase of general election on Dec 28 despite raging civil war, state TV reports

FILE - A voter casts a ballot at a polling station on Nov. 8, 2020, in Yangon, Myanmar. -- AP Photo/Thein Zaw, File

YANGON (AFP): Myanmar's junta said Monday that long-promised elections will start on December 28, despite a raging civil war that has put much of the country out of its control, and international monitors slating the poll as a charade.

Myanmar has been consumed by conflict since the military deposed the government of democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, making unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud.