YANGON – Myanmar’s military government will conduct a nationwide population and household census in October, state media said on Sept 2, paving the way for a promised election in 2025 amid raging conflict across swathes of the country.

       The census data collected between Oct 1 and Oct 15 will be used to hold a general election in 2025, the junta chief, General Min Aung Hlaing, told a meeting on Sept 1, state media reported.

       “The census can be used in compilation of correct and accurate voter lists, which is a basic need for successfully holding a free and fair multi-party democratic general election,” Gen Min Aung Hlaing said separately in a televised speech on Sept 1.

       The proposed election has already been widely derided as a sham and the outcome is unlikely to be recognised by Western countries, with many parties disbanded for not registering to run, including the dominant National League for Democracy (NLD), whose government the junta toppled.

       The country of 55 million people has been in turmoil since February 2021 when the military ousted the popular administration of Nobel laureate and NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, citing fraud in an election it won two months earlier by a landslide.

       Many NLD politicians, including Ms Suu Kyi, were arrested, while those who fled said the junta’s allegations of fraud over voter lists were baseless and trumped up to justify the coup.

       The coup sparked widespread protests that were met with a brutal crackdown that transformed the demonstrations into an armed resistance movement, which has since combined with many established ethnic minority armies to become the most significant challenge to the military in decades.

       By signing up, I accept SPH Media's Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy as amended from time to time.

       The military government in July said 27 of the parties that have registered for the election have denounced the rebellion.

       The junta does not have effective control of Myanmar, having lost complete authority over townships covering 86 per cent of the country’s territory that houses 67 per cent of the population, the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar said in a May report.

       Earlier in 2024, thousands of young people also fled abroad after the junta’s call for conscription to replenish its weakened forces.

       In August, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi promised technological help for the census-taking process for the “all-inclusive election” when he met Gen Min Aung Hlaing, according to junta media.

       The parallel National Unity Government, comprising former lawmakers and other junta opponents, said the international community and neighbouring countries should denounce the election and the census process.

       “The junta has the intention to carry out a sham election and using the excuse of a census, they are collecting information from people, which they will use to terrorise them,” its spokesman Kyaw Zaw said. REUTERS