Weekly Analysis: The Junta’s Sham Election Must be Urgently Condemned and Rejected by International Stakeholders

November 17, 2025

Across targeted areas of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), civilians face severe violence and are subjected to manipulative and coercive tactics to force compliance in the voting process ahead of the junta’s upcoming sham election. On 13 November 2025, HURFOM released a report providing further insights into this manipulation titled, “Voting under the barrel of a gun,” A Country At War, Not At the Polls. This election is not only illegal by the junta’s very own military-drafted 2008 Constitution but also fails to meet international standards.

As the Junta advances with its planned “election,” authorities in Mon State have moved to suppress even the slightest sign of dissent. Interfering with, questioning, or even seeming to challenge the process is now unacceptable. A large network of informers, ward and village administrators, and allied armed groups is now closely monitoring communities, tracking conversations, scrutinising social media activity, and reporting individuals they suspect of not supporting the regime.

Residents say this has fostered a climate of fear characterized by frequent arrests, intimidation, and surveillance. The recent arrest of a 65-year-old man from Kwan Yike Village, Chaungzon Township, Mon State, for allegedly tampering with an election notice serves as a clear example of this pattern, HURFOM field sources reported, after he was charged under the Junta’s “Election Protection Law” for supposedly interfering with the upcoming polls.

The 65-year-old male villager, U Kyaw Myint, was detained after being accused of removing or damaging a document posted at the village administrator’s office that listed the candidates contesting in Chaungzon Township, Mon State, on November 11, 2025. Local residents said junta officials came and took him away during the daytime, and his family has not been allowed to contact him since.

According to information received by HURFOM, the junta authorities have opened a case against him at the Chaungzon Township police station under Sections 26(a)/24(a) of the election-related law, and he is currently being held in custody.

This is not the first such case. On 2 November in Hpa-an Town, two residents from Ward No. 2 were also arrested after being accused of damaging the campaign billboard of the junta-appointed Karen State Chief Minister.

Since issuing its so-called election protection law, the junta has been using it to suppress dissent and control public expression. By the first week of 2025, an estimated 107 people across the country, both men and women, had been arrested and charged under this law.

Overview of Main Cases

• KNU Thaton District Chair and 22 Members Charged Under Junta’s Election Law

The military junta has opened a case against the Thaton District leadership of the Karen National Union (KNU), including District Chair Padoh Saw Soe Myint and 22 other members, for allegedly attempting to disrupt the regime’s planned general election. The junta’s announcement was released on 10 November.

According to the statement, the KNU Thaton District team was charged because they had earlier issued a public declaration rejecting the junta-organized election and calling for its disruption. The authorities said this violated the junta’s “Election Protection Law.”

• Military Junta troops burn down homes in Chauk Chaung Village, Tha Yet Chaung Township

Local sources in Dawei District report that junta troops burned civilian homes in Chauk Chaung Village, Tha Yet Chaung Township, on the afternoon of 9 November. The village is located along the Myeik–Dawei road, where military forces have been active.

About 100 junta soldiers who were stationed near the Win Wa Bridge checkpoint moved into the village and set fire to houses. A woman from the area told HURFOM that there is a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) Battalion 12, Division 2 checkpoint in Chauk Chaung, and the junta forces appeared to be targeting the area: “They used drones to drop bombs into the village. After that, we heard gunfire, and then the houses were set on fire,” she said.

• Light Infantry Battalion No. 406 arrests and tortures local man during two-day detention Yebyu Dawei

On 5 November 2025, troops from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 406, based in Yebyu Township, advanced into the Yar Phu village tract in Yebyu Township, Tanintharyi Region. During the operation, they arrested 35-year-old Ko Phai Dit from Thar Yar Mon Village after accusing him of sharing information with resistance forces.

According to his wife, he tried to flee and hide in a plantation when the soldiers entered the area, but they found him and checked his phone. “They looked through his phone and messages. Then they asked him, ‘Are you an informant?’ and arrested him. They tied him with rope and beat him,” she told HURFOM.