Myanmar’s Pro-Military USDP Claims Vast Lead in First Phase

Partial results published by state media and the Union Election Commission over the weekend showed the Union Solidarity and Development Party posting an overwhelming lead in the first phase of Myanmar’s military-run general election. The UEC releases, issued after balloting on Dec. 28, 2025, list the USDP as winner in 87 of the 96 lower-house seats the commission declared so far, a tally that works out to roughly 90 percent of the seats announced in the opening round.

The USDP, which critics characterise as a civilian proxy for the junta, offered a different internal count, asserting it had won 88 of the 102 seats contested in the phase and saying it ran unopposed in 29 constituencies. Observers cautioned that the two figures use different denominators and that the party’s number has not been independently verified by electoral authorities beyond the UEC releases carried by state outlets. Among the declared winners, ethnic minority parties accounted for a small share, winning nine seats across six parties.

The military government reported that more than 6 million people, roughly 52 percent of the more than 11 million eligible voters in the first phase, cast ballots. Electoral imagery from the capital showed officers counting ballots at polling stations, and the UEC began issuing winners’ names in early January. Officials framed the phased process as a return to constitutional order; opponents and many foreign governments view it as an attempt to rebrand martial rule after the Feb. 2021 coup that ousted a civilian administration and set off widespread unrest.

Rights groups and Western diplomats denounced the process as neither free nor fair, arguing that the military’s control of state institutions, restrictions on candidates and tight security conditions undermined the vote’s credibility. Domestic critics and analysts warned that the election outcome will do little to reduce the armed conflict that has since evolved into a broad insurgency pitting pro-democracy forces and ethnic fighters against junta forces.

The results of the first phase are partial and leave the final balance of the national legislature unsettled as voting continues. The USDP’s apparent dominance in areas covered by the opening round will strengthen the junta’s hand in any future governing coalition and complicate international efforts to condition recognition, aid or sanctions relief on demonstrable political reform. For now, the electoral exercise appears unlikely to produce a consensus domestic mandate or assuage foreign concerns about legitimacy.

Beyond the raw numbers, the vote exposes fragile civic trust and deep political fragmentation. Ethnic parties captured only a modest share of seats in the declared results, a dynamic that could harden grievances in minority regions and influence negotiations over autonomy and humanitarian access. As the election proceeds through subsequent phases, diplomats and rights groups will weigh whether the process offers genuine openings for reconciliation or simply cements military control while prolonging the country’s humanitarian and security crisis.