By Berk Kutay Gokmen
ISTANBUL (AA) - Myanmar’s junta began the second phase of its multi-party general election Sunday, as polling stations opened in 100 townships nationwide, the Irrawaddy newspaper reported.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing inspected voting at stations in Yangon’s Hlaing and Insein townships as the country began the second phase of the election in 12 of the country’s 14 regions and states.
The general election is being conducted in three stages. The first phase, the first elections since a 2021 military coup, was held Dec. 28 in 102 townships, while the final phase is scheduled Jan. 25 in 63 townships, according to Xinhua News.
Following the first phase, the Union Election Commission (UEC) said more than 100 representatives were elected to the Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House), over 30 to the Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House) and north of 100 to the Region and State Hluttaws.
The election will determine members of the Union Parliament, comprising the Pyithu Hluttaw and Amyotha Hluttaw, as well as state and region parliaments. The newly formed Union Parliament will then select a president, who will establish a new Union government.
Myanmar’s elected government, led by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), was ousted in the coup, plunging the country into more than four years of emergency rule.
The NLD had won the November 2020 general elections.
Myanmar has a bicameral parliament with 664 seats -- 440 in the lower house and 224 in the upper house.