Myanmar junta hunts 10 activists for anti-election protest

YANGON – Myanmar’s junta said on Dec 10 it was hunting for 10 activists who staged an anti-election protest, pursuing them under laws punishing organised dissent against the polls with up to a decade in prison.

Myanmar’s military snatched power

in a 2021 coup, triggering civil war, but has set new elections starting on Dec 28 – pledging the vote will plot a path to peace and democracy.

International monitors and ousted lawmakers dismiss the polls as a plot to rebrand continuing military rule, while rebels have vowed to block the vote from the vast territories they control.

In the summer of 2025, the junta enacted new legislation

dictating prison sentences of up to 10 years

for group protests against the election.

A junta statement said eight men and two women were being hunted after “shouting and scattering leaflets written in opposition to the elections” in Mandalay city on Dec 3.

The group intended “to cause the public to misunderstand election-related activities”, the statement said, adding “efforts are continuing to arrest and take action against the perpetrators”.

The protesters include Mr Tayzar San, a leader of Mandalay’s post-coup pro-democracy movement who has long eluded capture by the military authorities.

A video on his account on Facebook – a platform blocked in Myanmar since the coup – showed a gaggle of protesters flinging colourful pamphlets into the air at a dawn street market.

“The dictatorial system is the common enemy of the country,” shouts Mr Tayzar San, his fist raised in the air.

Myanmar opposition groups have called for more protests nationwide on Dec 10 to coincide with Human Rights Day, asking citizens to vacate public spaces in a “silent protest”.

Mr Mahn Winn Khaing Thann – prime minister of the self-declared National Unity Government staffed by many lawmakers ousted in the coup – said in a video message “the movement is intended to firmly and emphatically reveal that the entire populace boycotts the military’s unlawful, sham election”.

But in downtown Yangon – a hotbed of post-coup protests which were swiftly crushed by the junta – traffic hummed as usual and election officials plastered pro-vote posters on bus shelters.

“Every shop from our market area is open today as usual,” said one shopkeeper near a Yangon market, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons. “Owners will be in trouble if they close,” he added.

Ms Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won the 2020 elections by a landslide, but the military quashed the result, jailed the Nobel Peace Prize winner and dissolved her party.

A report by the UN human rights office said “since the coup, the military has routinely suppressed peaceful assemblies through violence and intimidation, making them increasingly rare and risky”. AFP