Naypyidaw, Jan 26 (.) Myanmar’s military-aligned union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) said it has won the country’s first election since the junta seized power in 2021. Many observers are calling the election a sham, following the boycott of key political parties in Myanmar.
The USDP’s claim of victory follows a staggered voting process criticised by both domestic analysts and international observers as essentially the continuation of the military regime, in the garb of a democratic entity.
The final round of voting concluded on Sunday, with official results expected later this week. However, preliminary tallies cited by party figures indicate an overwhelming win for the USDP across both chambers of parliament.
The USDP claims to have secured all 167 seats in the Upper Parliament through advanced voting. However, according to observers, this election was restricted to specific locations — namely, towns and cities firmly under the junta’s control.
Since the junta regime unveiled its plan to conduct elections early last year, it has systematically stripped major political parties, including the NLD and several ethnic political groups, of their registration.
Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has rejected international criticism of the country’s general election.
Under Myanmar’s parliamentary system, lawmakers will select the next president when the new legislature convenes in Naypyidaw in March, effectively cementing the political transition designed by the junta following years of direct military rule.
Sunday saw voting in 17 townships of Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, in races that saw a number of party leaders, junta officials and heirs to prominent military‑linked clans on the ballot.
In the first and second round of voting held between December 28, 2025 – January 11, 2026, the USDP managed to secure an overwhelming majority of seats in the lower house of the parliament, winning 193 of the 209 seats, and gaining 52 of the 78 seats in the upper house, overall winning 80% of the total vote in all constituencies across the nation.
“As far as I know we won all of the 17 townships in Yangon [that saw voting Sunday],” U Hla Thein, spokesperson of the USDP told Irrawaddy.
Several prominent opposition candidates were defeated in the Yangon races. U Ko Ko Gyi, chair of the People’s Party and a veteran leader of the 1988 pro-democracy movement, lost his Lanmadaw Township seat to USDP candidate Yan Myo Aung Thein.
In Hlaing Tharyar (West), Nan Su Thazin Aung — widely known as VV Chen, a former sex education vlogger — was defeated by Labor Minister U Aung Kyaw Hoe, who ran under the USDP banner.
Elsewhere, Daw Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein, leader of the Federal Democratic Party (FDP), lost her race in Gyobingauk Township in Bago Region.
The FDP contested only in Bago Region, where it managed to secure three seats in Pyay and Thayarwaddy townships, according to Nyein. In Shan State, the Shan and Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP) won seats in Mongnai, Kyethi and Hsipaw townships, party chair Sai Aik Pao said.
Local outlets also reported that the ethnic Inn National League Party won three seats in Nyaungshwe, southern Shan State, though those claims could not be independently verified.
Other smaller parties fared poorly. Myanmar Farmers Development Party (MFDP) chair U Kyaw Swar Soe lost his race in Yangon’s Dagon Seikkan Township to a USDP candidate.
Voter participation was reported to be little more than 55% in these rounds—well below the voter turn-out rate seen in the previous elections, back in 2015 and 2020.
The military stated that the election was supported by the public and denied any coercion. However, 40 political parties, including the National League for Democracy (NLD), which led the previous elected government, were barred from participating.
In addition, no polling took place across swathes of the country, now under control of armed rebel groups.
Due to the perceived illegitimacy of the voting process – which is widely considered to be farcical state optics – due to the polls being neither free nor fair, thus giving them no credibility, regional concerns regarding political stability in Myanmar have greatly intensified, leading to all the countries in the ASEAN, or Association of Southeast Asian Nations, refusing to recognise the elections.
The ASEAN has formally stated it will not recognize or certify the results of Myanmar’s national elections.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan announced on January 20, that because the ASEAN bloc did not send observers, it would not certify the poll.
The bloc maintains that a credible election must be inclusive and free, rather than held in phases or under restrictive conditions that bar key opposition candidates.
ASEAN leaders emphasize that their priority remains the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus—specifically ending violence and initiating dialogue—rather than validating a process they view as a source of “premature legitimacy”.
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