Holding Myanmar elections next month ‘unfathomable’: UN Human rights chief

Human rights chief cites severe repression, bombardment of civilians, and a dissolved opposition as junta pushes December 28 polls

Staff Reporter

Nov 11, 2025, 05:23 AM2 min read

Holding Myanmar elections next month ‘unfathomable’: UN Human rights chief

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk Addresses Human Rights Concerns in Tibet at the 58th Session of the UN Human Rights Council/ old photo, Collected

The United Nations' top human rights official stated Monday that Myanmar cannot possibly hold free and fair elections next month, citing a complete collapse of civic space, rampant rights abuses, and heavy bombardment of civilians by the ruling military.

Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told AFP in an interview that the situation in the conflict-ridden country, which he noted "does not get enough media attention," makes a credible election impossible.

The military junta, which seized power in a 2021 coup, has scheduled polls to begin on December 28, promoting the vote as a pathway to peace and reconciliation.

Three months ago airstrike in School by Junta , human rights situation in Myanmar/ File

However, monitors and rights groups have dismissed the election as a ploy to legitimize continued military rule.

"The situation in Myanmar... people have been suffering," Turk said. He described a state of severe repression where the military has "restricted entirely the civic space, with those who are in opposition being detained, with journalists being killed," all while "heavy bombardments of civilians" and a brutal civil war continue, particularly in Rakhine State.

"To hold elections under these circumstances is unfathomable," said Turk.

"How can anyone say that they’re free and fair, and how can they even be conducted when considerable parts of the country are actually not in anyone’s control, and with the military being party to the conflict and having suppressed its population for years?"

The junta took power by ousting the government of Aung San Suu Kyi, making unsubstantiated claims of fraud in the 2020 election, which her National League for Democracy (NLD) party won in a landslide.

Suu Kyi has since been jailed and the NLD dissolved, leading rights groups to insist the upcoming election cannot be legitimate.

Since the coup, a many-sided civil war has consumed Myanmar. The junta has lost swathes of territory to pro-democracy guerrillas and powerful ethnic-minority armed factions, many of which have pledged to block the polls from their enclaves.

The junta has clamped down on any opposition to the vote, making any form of protest against the poll punishable by up to a decade in prison.

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