Voters went to the polls Sunday for 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 crucial elections, held under military rule amid civil war, are being widely criticised as a sham. With Aung San Suu Kyi jailed and her party banned, the polls are seen as an attempt to legitimise junta power,

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 will hold the first phase of a general election on Sunday, its first vote in five years and an exercise that critics say will neither restore the country's fragile democracy undone by a 2021 army takeover,

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.

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.