Polls opened in Myanmar on Sunday kick-starting a controversial election the military junta says will return democratic rule, nearly five years after it seized power from an elected government, unleashing a brutal civil war it has yet to win.

The Trump administration has joined a small number of countries—including China and Russia—in backing the vote, which is being held amid a brutal civil war.

Myanmar's military rulers are holding a general election in phases starting Dec. 28 amid the country's civil war. The head of the U.N. says the vote will be anything but free and fair.

Sunday marks the initial phase of Myanmar’s first general election in five years, held under the supervision of its military government while a civil war rages throughout much of the country.

Myanmar’s election is unlikely to change the reality for more than 1M Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh who fled what the UN called ‘genocidal violence’ in Myanmar. Efforts to repatriate the Muslim minority have stalled since the junta seized power in 2021. Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdhury reports from Cox’s Bazar.

Many condemned the Myanmar Elections as a “sham”, as the most popular party, the National League for Democracy, is banned from running in the election. Stay tuned to this LIVE blog for all the latest

A coup set off a brutal civil war and made a poor country poorer. Now its military rulers are seeking a veneer of legitimacy by holding elections.

Myanmar is all set to conduct its first general election in five years after seizing power in a coup. The question about the future of the junta and its chief, Min Aung Hlaing, remains hanging