Myanmar junta says voter turnout at 52% in first phase of election

FILE PHOTO: A trishaw driver sits and reads a newspaper reporting on Myanmar's general election in Yangon on December 29, 2025. Voters trickled to Myanmar's heavily restricted polls on December 28, with the ruling junta touting the exercise as a return to democracy five years after it ousted the last elected government and triggered a civil war. - AFP

YANGON: Myanmar's ‌junta said slightly more than half of eligible voters cast their ballot in the first phase of a three-stage national election at the weekend, a figure that was markedly lower than the previous two elections.

The election is the first since a 2021 coup ‌and is taking place during a civil war. ⁠Analysts expect the military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party, led by retired generals, to be returned ​to power.