The planned elections that the junta is trying to rush through are illegitimate and go against the will of the people, according to Nay Phone Latt of the shadow National Unity Government (NUG).

“The terrorist military group led by Min Aung Hlaing has no right to hold elections. They are not a government elected by the people, so they have no legitimacy to hold elections”, saId Nay Phone Latt, a spokesperson for the NUG Prime Minister’s Office, when he spoke to Mizzima recently.

He said: “The most important thing is public participation. The elections cannot be successful without public participation”.

He added: “The elections will be illegal and fake without public participation” and explained that even if the junta did manage to hold an election it would “distort the will of the people.”

A young resident of Yangon said to Mizzima: “They [the junta] still think the public is stupid and naive. No one will be enthusiastic about the so-called elections. In the last elections, you saw young people actively participating in the elections as first-time voters. Now, even if the junta holds elections, only their people will vote and they may cheat.”

The junta has claimed it will hold elections despite not having complete control of the country. This means it will be unable to properly run the elections, according to Nay Phone Latt.

He said: “Elections must be held nationwide and everyone must participate. Currently, the terrorist military led by Min Aung Hlaing is in no position to control even half the country. The ethnic revolutionary forces and our NUG have influence and control over more than half the country. So, Min Aung Hlaing is not capable of holding nationwide elections.”

The NUG and revolutionary forces are calling for a boycott of the junta’s elections and urging the general public to avoid associating with the junta. Young people put up stickers saying “No fake elections” around Yangon on 2 October.

In preparation for the election, the junta is planning to carry out a nationwide census. A trial census was carried out in 20 townships across the country from 1 to 15 October.

Junta officials who went house to house collecting census data had to be accompanied by armed police, soldiers, and plainclothes security men for their own security, according to people in the townships where the trial census was carried out.

The last Myanmar census was held in 2014. According to the junta in October 2023, the estimated population of Myanmar was 56.2 million people.