Myanmar’s junta-backed party wins 90% of seats in first vote phase

To mark the country’s 78 years of independence, the military is also releasing over 6,000 prisoners

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Myanmese electoral officers count early voting ballots at a polling station in Naypyidaw on December 28. Photo: EPA

Published: 12:32pm, 4 Jan 2026Updated: 3:03pm, 25 Jan 2026

Myanmar’s pro-military party has a decisive lead in the first phase of junta-run elections, winning 90 per cent of the lower house seats announced so far, official results published in state media showed.

The military grabbed power in a 2021 putsch that triggered civil war, pitting pro-democracy rebels against junta forces for control of the country.

Myanmar’s junta opened voting in the phased month-long election a week ago, with its leaders pledging the poll would bring on democracy. However, rights advocates and Western diplomats have condemned it as a sham and a rebranding of martial rule.

The dominant pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has won 87 of the 96 lower house seats announced, according to partial results from the Union Election Commission released on Saturday and Sunday in state media.

Six ethnic minority parties picked up nine seats.

A Myanmese electoral officer holds up a ballot paper during a count in Naypyidaw on December 28. Photo: EPA

The winners of six more townships have yet to be announced in the first phase of voting. Two more phases are scheduled for January 11 and 25.

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Myanmar’s junta-backed party wins 90% of seats in first vote phase

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}To mark the country’s 78 years of independence, the military is also releasing over 6,000 prisoners

To mark the country’s 78 years of independence, the military is also releasing over 6,000 prisoners