Myanmar's military stages controversial election
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson, and in the early hours of Sunday, the 28th of December, these are our main stories. Voting is underway in the election stage by Myanmar's military leaders amid a civil war and humanitarian crisis. The poll has been labelled a sham. President Zelensky is going to Florida for a crucial meeting with Donald Trump about the Russia-Ukraine peace plan, and China proposes stricter rules for human-like AI systems. Also in this podcast, Hondurans in the US are sending home more money in remittances than ever before we hear from people in both countries. And tennis is set for another battle of the sexes. A lot of people think it's just going to sort of cause division and mirth.
It's kind of lose-lose for Sabalenka and therefore the kind of women's tennis movement. Is this the sequel no one asked for? The polls have opened for a general election in Myanmar, the first held in the country since the military seized power in a coup nearly five years ago. It's taking place despite the fact that the country is in the grip of a civil war and humanitarian crisis. The military government has been trying to inspire voters but the elections have been widely slated as a charade. intended to rebrand the army's rule. There are 57 parties on the ballot, but most have links to the military that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, who's currently in jail. Our correspondent Jonathan Head spoke to me from a polling station.
People are voting here. This is quite close to central Mandalay. In fact, it's a very big military base near here. There may be some connection to that. It's possible there are military families. But actually, the crowd's pretty diverse, and this is a very diverse city. The numbers aren't huge there. I mean, compared to previous elections here, The atmosphere is very, very different. It's very quiet. There's really no sign there's an election on when you're outside the polling station. In fact, people didn't even know where the polling stations were until yesterday. I think in this area, quite a lot of people will vote willingly. Though some people we've managed to speak to, it's very difficult. People are very frightened when journalists talk to them.
There is this dreadful law which effectively criminalises any kind of negative comment about the election. So people don't know what they can and can't say, what will get them sent to prison. Generally, people have just mumbled to us that they... feel they have no choice, that they've got to vote. And I think a lot of people will not vote. And of course, the picture I'm seeing here in Mandalay is in many ways deceptive. This is a school. It's very orderly. It's very quiet and peaceful. The military has got electric voting machines for the first time ever. So it's quite a very smooth process inside. People are having to work out how to use those. But you only have to travel perhaps 30, 40 minutes from landing now
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