BANGKOK -- Myanmar will hold a national census next month to compile voter lists for a general election and to analyze population and socioeconomic trends, the head of the military government said.
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing’s announcement on Sunday comes as Myanmar is roiled by a civil war in which the army has been forced onto the defensive against pro-democracy militants as well as ethnic militias seeking autonomy in much of the country.
A group that leads the pro-democracy struggle, the National Unity Government, expressed skepticism that the military government intends to hold an election any time soon and advised people to use “caution” in complying with any census questions.
Min Aung Hlaing said the “ultimate mission” of the ruling State Administrative Council is to hold a “free and fair multiparty democratic election" and that the census would be used to build voter lists, but did not specify a date for polling. He previously has pledged to hold an election in 2025.
He also said the data would be used for present and future development projects.
In the text of his televised speech published Monday in the state-run newspaper The Mirror, Min Aung Hlaing said the census -- which is taken every 10 years -- will be carried out all over the country from Oct. 1 to Oct. 15, and that people need to answer all its questions without anxiety or doubt.
The ruling military has declared that elections are its goal since seizing power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. It originally announced elections would be held in August 2023, but has repeatedly pushed back the date.
The military sought to justify its 2021 takeover by claiming that the landslide victory of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party in the November 2020 general election was marred by widespread electoral fraud, a charge rejected by independent election observers.
The army’s seizure of power was met with widespread protests, whose violent suppression triggered armed resistance, and large parts of the country now are embroiled in conflict.
The anti-junta National Unity Government, or NUG, decried the census plans and called the military government a “terrorist” group.
“If the people give their information to the terrorist organization, it will only use this information to use other methods to terrorize the public,” NUG spokesperson Nay Phone Latt told The Associated Press. “The election is just an excuse. A terrorist group has no legitimacy to hold the elections. Therefore, it is important for the public to exercise caution when providing the information.”
Critics believe that any general election organized by the military would be an attempt to normalize its seizure of power through the ballot box.
Critics have already said that the elections would be neither free nor fair because there is no free media and most of the National League for Democracy party leaders have been arrested. Suu Kyi, 79, is serving prison sentences totaling 27 years after being convicted in a series of politically tainted prosecutions.
The country's security situation poses a serious challenge to verifying voter lists, because the military is believed to be in control of less than half the country.
The Institute for Strategy and Policy, an independent think tank, said in a July report that at least 14,374 clashes have occurred across 233 of Myanmar’s 330 townships since the military take-over. It said pro-democracy guerrillas and ethnic minority militias have seized as many as 60 towns.
At a meeting at the end of July, Min Aung Hlaing said the data-collecting process for the census would be prioritized in areas under the military's control. He also said that the election will be held in the peaceful areas first, state-run media reported.
In January 2023, when elections were still expected later that year, the military had made an initial effort at compiling voter lists. The three-week survey activities were attacked by resistance forces, and about a dozen people including two police officers and local officials were killed and four military government personnel captured.
The National Unity Government, which considers itself to be Myanmar's legitimate government, at that time warned that those who helped collect survey information would face reprisals.
In a separate development, state-run MRTV television reported Monday night that three of the most powerful armed ethnic organizations that have been warring with the army have been declared terrorist organizations by the military government.
The report said that the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Arakan Army have been committing terrorist acts causing serious losses of public security, lives and property.
The three groups, who joined as the Three Brotherhood Alliance, launched a surprise offensive last October and have since gained strategic territory in the country’s northeast and the west. The terrorist designation will not affect the battlefield situation but criminalizes support and organizing for the groups as well as contact with them.
