Media Citation
Myanmar military proxy expected to win landslide in widely denounced election | The Guardian
Source: The Guardian | 25 January 2026
The military coup in 2021, which marked an abrupt end to the country’s democratic transition, triggered a escalating conflict as civilians began to take up arms to fight against the junta. The army is battling a diverse patchwork of opposition groups, in what Acled, which tracks conflicts globally, has described as “the most fragmented conflict in the world”.
Su Mon, Acled’s senior analyst for Asia Pacific, said that while the military had sought to portray elections as a managed exit from political crisis and conflict, its counter-offensives had only increased in the run-up to the vote. “In an effort to regain territory, the military continued its repeated airstrikes on civilian areas throughout 2025, leading to the highest number of airstrikes and associated fatalities in any single year since 2021,” she said.
