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Officials from Myanmar’s Union Election Commission prepared polling stations on Saturday for the second day of elections. In these photos taken by photographer Thein Zaw at a school-turned-polling station in the capital, Yangonstaff tested voting machines and made sure everything was ready.
Myanmar will hold the first phase of a general election on Sunday, its first vote in five years, in an exercise that critics say will neither restore the country’s fragile democracy undermined by a 2021 army takeover nor end a devastating civil war sparked by the country’s harsh military rule. Voting will be held in three phases, with the second phase taking place on January 11 and the third phase on January 25.
The military sees the polls as a return to multi-party democracy, possibly to lend legitimacy to its rule, which began after the army overthrew the elected government four years ago. Aung San Suu Kyi.
The takeover sparked widespread popular opposition and turned into a civil war. The fighting complicated voting in many disputed areas.
Human rights and opposition groups said the vote was neither free nor fair.