By Agence France-Presse

KAWMHU, Myanmar — Myanmar’s junta opened polls in the second phase of elections on Sunday, AFP journalists saw, continuing a vote democracy watchdogs say is letting the military prolong its rule in a civilian guise.

Polls opened at 6 a.m. (2330 GMT Saturday) in the Yangon region constituency of Kawhmu, the former seat of deposed and detained democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi.

The military overturned Myanmar’s last election and ousted Suu Kyi in a 2021 coup, claiming her National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory over pro-military parties with massive voter fraud. International monitors say the fraud claims were unfounded.

After ruling by force for the past five years, the junta has pledged a month-long election, due to end with a third phase on January 25, that will return power to the people.

But Suu Kyi remains jailed and the NLD has been dissolved, while democracy advocates say the junta-run vote has been rigged with a crackdown on dissent and a ballot stacked with military allies.

The dominant pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party — trounced by the NLD in the 2020 polls and considered by many analysts to be a military proxy — won nearly 90 percent of lower house seats in the vote’s first phase.