Myanmar Holds Final Vote as Military-Backed Party Nears Majority

Voting was held on Jan. 26, 2025, in 61 townships from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, which won 233 seats in the first two rounds, is poised to secure a parliamentary majority, election officials said.

Security disruptions left 67 townships excluded from the three-stage vote, reducing the original 664 parliamentary seats to 586, and rights monitors said that the exclusion and the dissolution of the National League for Democracy undermined the election's legitimacy.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan told Parliament on Jan. 21, 2025, that ASEAN did not send observers and would not certify the vote, while U.N. special rapporteur Tom Andrews called the process "fraudulent" and urged its rejection, according to public statements.

Union Election Commission figures show the USDP won 233 seats in the first two rounds and, together with the military's constitutionally reserved 166 seats, its bloc already holds 399 seats—above the 294 needed to form a government.

Final results are expected later this week, and the military government announced Parliament will convene in March 2025 with a new government to take office in April 2025, a timetable that analysts say could culminate in Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing assuming the presidency.