Myanmar pro-military party claims big lead in disputed junta-run poll: ‘election not credible’
The overwhelming lead claimed by the USDP in the first poll phase is met with condemnation from rights groups warning of a rigged process
The armed forces snatched power in a 2021 coup, but on Sunday opened voting in a phased month-long election they pledge will return power to the people.
“We won 82 lower house seats in townships which have finished counting, out of the total of 102,” a senior member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) said.
The figure implies that the party – which many analysts describe as a civilian proxy of the military – took more than 80 per cent of the lower house seats that were put to the vote on Sunday.
It won all eight townships in the capital Naypyidaw, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to disclose the results.
