YANGON — Myanmar's junta chief on Sunday rejected international criticism of the country's general election that concluded on Sunday, insisting it was free and fair.Polls have closed after a third and final stage of voting in what are widely viewed as sham elections.Major opposition groups are not contesting the polls and voting has not been possible in large areas of the country because of a five-year-long civil war triggered by a 2021 coup that brought the military to power. The Union Solidarity and Development Party has won 193 of 209 seats in the lower house and 52 of 78 seats in the upper house after two rounds held on December 28 and January 11. Voter turnout was around 55% in each round, sharply lower than levels of about 70% in the 2020 and 2015 elections.Six parties, including the military-backed USDP, fielded candidates nationwide, while another 51 parties and independent candidates decided to contest state and regional levels.Malaysia, which last year chaired the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes Myanmar, has said the bloc would not endorse the election."Whether the international community recognizes this or not, we don't understand their perspective. The people’s vote is the recognition we need," junta chief Min Aung Hlaing told reporters on Sunday, according to video broadcast on state TV.On Sunday, voters were casting their ballots in some 60 townships, including the large cities of Yangon and Mandalay. Dressed in civilian clothes, Min Aung Hlaing earlier met voters at a polling station in Mandalay in a seemingly relaxed atmosphere, pictures from local media showed.Polling day was preceded by a campaigning period reported marked by fear, intimidation and a pervasive sense that little will change after the inevitable victory by the USDP."Everywhere the BBC team travelled in southern Shan State, we were followed and closely monitored by dozens of police and military officials, always polite but very persistent."It proved nearly impossible to get people to say anything about the vote, so nervous were they of possible repercussions," BBC said.The next steps after final results are announced are laid down in the military-drafted constitution.Parliament will meet within the next two months to choose a new president, and everyone expects that to be Gen Min Aung Hlaing.The 69-year-old general and acting president has indicated he is considering appointing someone to succeed him as armed forces chief and will likely move into a fully political role, a source has said.Asked on Sunday about his possible role in the future government, Min Aung Hlaing said it was too early to say. "Once the Parliament is convened, they have their own procedures and methods for selection," he said.The military junta took control of Myanmar in a 2021 coup, ousting an elected civilian government led by Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi.She remains in detention and, like many other opposition groups, her National League for Democracy has been formally dissolved.The military has been fighting against both armed resistance groups which oppose the coup and ethnic armies that have their own militias.It lost control of large parts of the country in a series of major setbacks, but clawed back territory this year enabled by support from China and Russia.The civil war has killed thousands of people, displaced millions more, destroyed the economy and left a humanitarian vacuum. — Agencies
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