Myanmar’s military government said on Monday that the first phase of a nationwide general election will begin on 28 December, according to an announcement on state broadcaster MRTV by the Union Election Commission. Subsequent rounds, needed because of security constraints, are to be scheduled through January. The ballot would be the country’s first since the army, led by Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected administration in February 2021. The vote thus marks the junta’s most significant step toward what it calls a return to “multi-party democracy,” although it retains emergency powers across much of the country. Election authorities said 55 political parties have registered, nine of which plan to contest seats nationwide. The National League for Democracy—which won the last pre-coup poll—has been dissolved, and opposition forces have urged a boycott, calling the exercise a sham designed to cement military rule. Intensifying clashes between the army, pro-democracy militias and ethnic armed groups have left large swaths of territory outside government control, raising doubts about whether polling stations can open in hundreds of townships. Western governments and rights monitors say the ongoing conflict, mass arrests and media restrictions preclude conditions for a credible vote.