Military-controlled Myanmar will conduct a census next month to prepare for elections planned for 2025

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar will conduct a census next month to compile voter lists for parliamentary elections and analyze demographic and socioeconomic trends, the head of the military government said.

General Min Aung Hlaing's announcement on Sunday came at a time when Myanmar is roiled by civil war and the army in much of the country is being pushed onto the defensive against pro-democracy militias and ethnic militias seeking autonomy.

A group leading the democracy struggle, the National Unity Government, expressed skepticism about the military government's intention to hold elections in the near future and advised the population to exercise “caution” when answering any census questions.

Min Aung Hlaing said the ruling State Administration Council's “ultimate mission” was to hold “free and fair democratic multi-party elections” and that the census would be used to compile voter lists, but did not give an election date. He had previously promised to hold elections in 2025.

He also said the data would be used for current and future development projects.

In the text of his televised address published in the state-run newspaper The Mirror on Monday, Min Aung Hlaing said the decennial census would be conducted across the country from October 1 to 15 and that people must answer all questions without fear or doubt.

The ruling military has declared elections as its goal since it seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. It had originally announced that the elections would be held in August 2023, but it has repeatedly postponed the date.

The military tried to justify its seizure of power in 2021 by claiming that the landslide victory of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party in the November 2020 parliamentary elections was marred by widespread electoral fraud – an allegation that independent election observers rejected.

The army's seizure of power sparked widespread protests. Its violent suppression led to armed resistance. Large parts of the country are now embroiled in conflict.

The anti-junta National Unity Government (NUG) condemned the census plans and described the military government as a “terrorist” group.

“If people give their information to the terrorist organization, it will only use that information to terrorize the public through other methods,” NUG spokesman Nay Phone Latt told the Associated Press. “The election is just a pretext. A terrorist group has no legitimacy to hold elections. Therefore, it is important that the public be cautious in sharing information.”

Critics believe that any parliamentary election organized by the military would be an attempt to normalize its seizure of power through the ballot box.

Critics have already said the elections will be neither free nor fair, as there is no free media and most National League for Democracy party leaders have been arrested. Suu Kyi, 79, is serving a total of 27 years in prison after being convicted in a series of politically motivated trials.

The security situation in the country poses a serious challenge to verifying voter lists, as the military is believed to control less than half of the country.

The Institute for Strategy and Policy, an independent think tank, said in a July report that at least 14,374 clashes had occurred in 233 of Myanmar's 330 cities since the military seized power, and that pro-democracy guerrillas and ethnic minority militias had taken over as many as 60 cities.

At a meeting in late July, Min Aung Hlaing said data collection for the census would be carried out primarily in military-controlled areas. He also said the election would be held first in peaceful areas, state media reported.

In January 2023, when elections were still expected later that year, the military made a first attempt to compile voter lists. The three-week-long survey activities were attacked by resistance forces and about a dozen people, including two police officers and local officials, were killed and four members of the military government were captured.

The Government of National Unity, which considers itself the legitimate government of Myanmar, warned at the time that those who helped collect the survey data would face reprisals.

In another report on Monday evening, state television channel MRTV reported that the military government had declared three of the most powerful ethnic organizations at war with the army as terrorist organizations.

The report said the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Arakan Army carried out terrorist attacks that caused serious disruption to public safety and loss of life and property.

The three groups, which have joined forces as the Three Brothers Alliance, launched a surprise offensive last October and have since seized strategic areas in the northeast and west of the country. The terrorist designation has no impact on the situation on the battlefield, but it criminalizes supporting and organizing the groups, as well as having contact with them.

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