Youth representatives from 108 organizations in Karenni State called on residents to boycott the regime’s 2025-26 elections, calling political party candidates as “traitors to the Karenni people.”
Khun Thomas, head of the Karenni Interim Executive Council (IEC) Youth Affairs Department, told DVB that a meeting bringing together all 108 organizations was held at an undisclosed location Dec. 18-20.
The National Unity Government (NUG), a group established after the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021 to represent elected lawmakers, labelled 33 members of the military regime in Naypyidaw, including its leader Min Aung Hlaing, as “terrorists” on Dec. 21.
The 33 members include Porel Aung Thein, the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) Karenni State chairperson No. 1, and Saw Daniel, a Loikaw Township candidate for the Kayah State People’s Party (KySPP), which was formed by pro-regime politicians in the Karenni State capital on Dec. 26, 2024.
The two regime officials from Karenni are also members of the Central Advisory Body of the National Defence and Security Council (NDSC), which was reformed by Min Aung Hlaing on July 31, regime media reported.
The Union Election Commission (UEC) has scheduled elections in Loikaw, Bawlakhe, Demoso and Hpruso townships, which are under regime control. Mese, Shadaw and Hpasawng townships will not host the elections since they are under the control of Karenni resistance forces. Karenni State has a total of seven townships.
Loikaw residents told DVB that regime forces have recently increased patrols and restricted movements from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. ahead of the elections. “If they order us to vote, we’ll have to. We don’t dare say no,” one resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity.
A source in the Karenni resistance told DVB that regime forces have heightened security measures in Bawlakhe, which is located 52 miles (83 km) south of Loikaw and is contested between regime and resistance forces.
The Karenni Army, the armed wing of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), warned people not to go near UEC polling stations. It also ordered them not to gather for prayers throughout the Christmas holidays from Dec. 24 to Jan. 5, 2026.
The UEC announced on Oct. 26 that 87 candidates from the KySPP, the USDP, along with other pro-regime parties such as the People’s Pioneer Party (PPP) and the National Unity Party (NUP), will compete in Karenni State.
The regime elections are scheduled to take place in 274 out of Myanmar’s 330 townships with voting in three phases: Dec. 28, Jan. 11, and Jan. 25, 2026.
