Myanmar will hold nationwide elections beginning Dec. 28, setting a date for polls that have been denounced as a sham to normalize the army’s 2021 seizure of power even as much of the country is wracked by civil war.

Myanmar will begin its general elections on 28 December, its military government announced, in a phased poll widely condemned as a sham that will be used to entrench the junta's power. This will be the first vote since the junta seized power in a bloody coup in 2021, and imprisoned democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar’s junta released details of its long-awaited December elections on Thursday, saying the first voting phase would cover about a third of the nation’s townships — despite the conflict raging around the Southeast Asian country.