The political situation in Myanmar

Testimonies of terror in the junta's Rangoon: "They are listening"

Voters in Myanmar's largest city, Rangoon, are testifying to a deep sense of resignation about the ongoing election and where the country is headed, writes The Guardian.

Since the military coup five years ago, the economy has shrunk by nine percent, many voters speak anonymously about their fear of both criminal gangs and informants of the military junta.

- My friends remind me never to talk about politics even in a taxi or on the bus, because they are listening. It feels like I am living in a prison, says a Rangoon resident to the newspaper.

Analysis: The election in Myanmar is a ritual humiliation

That the military junta's party has been able to declare a landslide victory in the first round of the election in Myanmar is not surprising, writes the editorial staff of the junta-critical newspaper The Irrawaddy in an analytical text.

The main opposition party, the NLD, has been banned from running. Access to polling stations is highly questionable, and there are widespread reports of people being forced to vote in a certain way.

“Large sections of the population who once saw elections as a social duty now see them as ritual humiliation,” the newspaper writes.

Srinivasan Ramani in The Hindu writes that the sole purpose of the elections seems to be for the junta to legitimize its own rule, but also wonders how effective they really are when everyone can see that they are fake.