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Myanmar’s military has said turnout in the first phase of the country’s junta-run elections exceeded 50 percent of eligible voters, a far cry from the participation rate of the last poll which was voided by a coup.The military grabbed power in a 2021 putsch that triggered civil war, and on Sunday, opened voting in a phased month-long election they pledged would return power to the people.Rights advocates and Western diplomats, however, condemned the vote, citing a crackdown on dissent and a candidate list stacked with military allies likely to prolong the armed forces’ rule.Myanmar’s dominant pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party claimed an overwhelming victory in the first phase this week, while the junta accused rebels of launching attacks on poll sites and government buildings over the weekend.Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said in a recorded message that 52 percent of the more than 11.6 million people eligible to vote in phase one had cast their ballots, or over six million voters.”Even in democratic countries, they do not have more than 50 percent voter turnout,” Zaw Min Tun said in the video shared with journalists late Tuesday.”This successful election is not the victory of our government. It’s the victory of our country and people.”The military ruled Myanmar for most of its post-independence history, before a 10-year interlude saw a civilian government take the reins.However, after Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party trounced pro-military opponents in the last elections in 2020, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing snatched power in a coup, alleging widespread voter fraud.The turnout rate in the 2020 vote was around 70 percent.But the droves of young people who queued to cast ballots in past elections were conspicuous by their absence from Sunday’s poll.Legions have left the war-ravaged country since the military seized power, including many men of conscription age — up to 35 — or youngsters seeking better livelihoods abroad.And some of those still in the country were not particularly eager to take part in the vote, which international rights campaigners have dismissed as a sham intended to rebrand military rule.

An emerging political bloc in Nepal has gained another heavyweight, with a third key figure joining the new alliance ahead of next year’s election, a party member said on Tuesday.Two of Nepal’s most popular political leaders, television host Rabi Lamichhane of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah, agreed on Sunday to unite their parties for the March 5, 2026, polls.They pledged to address the demands of younger “Gen Z” protesters following deadly anti-corruption demonstrations in September that ousted the government.Kulman Ghising of the Ujyalo Nepal Party, who is the energy minister in the interim government, also agreed to join the new alliance late on Monday.”This agreement… has brought an alternative force into the political mainstream,” said Sanjiv Ballav Bhattarai, a former Ujyalo Nepal committee member, who has now joined Lamichhane’s RSP. Ghising, 55, won significant public support when he led the Nepal Electricity Authority in tackling the Himalayan country’s load-shedding crisis.At least 77 people were killed during the youth-led September 8-9 uprising.Protests began under the loose umbrella title of Gen Z, triggered by a brief government ban on social media.The demonstrations tapped into wider public anger at economic stagnation and political corruption in the country of 30 million people.The agreement said the new alliance embraces “the spirit of the Gen Z movement against corruption and bad governance”.Prominent Gen Z protest figures, including Sudan Gurung, played a role in bringing the leaders together for talks.Nepal became a federal republic in 2008 after a decade-long civil war and a peace deal that saw former Maoist insurgents brought into government and the abolishment of the monarchy.A revolving door of ageing prime ministers and a culture of horse-trading between three dominant parties fuelled public perceptions that the government was out of touch.Lamichhane’s RSP emerged as a political surprise in the 2022 general election, when it became the fourth-largest party in parliament.However, Lamichhane has since been embroiled in cases of cooperative fraud and organised crime and was recently released on bail.

Bangladesh’s former prime minister Khaleda Zia, who many believed would sweep elections next year to lead her country once again, died on Tuesday aged 80.The government declared three days of state mourning for the country’s first woman prime minister, with vast crowds expected to attend her funeral on Wednesday.Despite years of ill health and imprisonment, Zia vowed in November to campaign in elections set for February — the first vote since a mass uprising toppled her arch-rival Sheikh Hasina last year.Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is widely seen as a frontrunner, and her son Tarique Rahman, who returned only on Thursday after 17 years in exile, is seen a potential prime minister if they win a majority.”The country mourns the loss of a guiding presence that shaped its democratic aspirations,” Rahman said in a statement.He said he was also mourning the loss of the “infinite love” of his mother, who “endured repeated arrests, denial of medical care, and relentless persecution”.”Yet even in pain, confinement, and uncertainty, she never stopped sheltering her family with courage and compassion. Her resilience… was unbreakable.”In late November Zia was rushed to hospital, where, despite the best efforts of medics, her condition deteriorated from a raft of health issues.Nevertheless, hours before her death, party workers had on Monday submitted nomination papers on her behalf for three constituencies for the polls. The BNP said Zia died shortly after dawn on Tuesday.Interim leader Muhammad Yunus said Bangladesh “has lost a great guardian”.”Through her uncompromising leadership, the nation was repeatedly freed from undemocratic conditions and inspired to regain liberty,” Nobel Peace Prize winner Yunus said in a statement.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he hoped Zia’s “vision and legacy will continue to guide our partnership”, a warm message despite the strained relations between New Delhi and Dhaka since Hasina’s fall.Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Zia had been a “committed friend” to Islamabad, while China’s ambassador in Dhaka Yao Wen offered his condolences.”China will continue to maintain its longstanding and friendly ties with the BNP,” he said.- ‘Prison over luxury’ -Braving cold rain, mourners gathered on Tuesday outside the hospital in Dhaka where Zia’s body rests.”This is an irreparable loss for the nation,” senior BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi told reporters, his voice choking with emotion.”She chose prison over luxury and spent years behind bars,” said Golam Kibria, 29, a BNP loyalist who said he was tortured under Hasina’s government, calling Zia an “unmatched leader who can never be replaced”.Three-time prime minister Zia was jailed for corruption in 2018 under Hasina’s government, which also blocked her from travelling abroad for medical treatment.Zia was released last year, shortly after Hasina was forced from power.Hasina, 78, sentenced to death in absentia in November for crimes against humanity, remains in hiding in her old ally India.”I pray for the eternal peace and forgiveness of Begum Khaleda Zia’s soul,” Hasina said, in a statement on social media by her now banned Awami League party.Bangladesh’s Prothom Alo newspaper, which said Zia had “earned the epithet of the ‘uncompromising leader'”, reported that Rahman and other family members were by her side at the time of her death.”The lives of politicians are marked by rises and falls,” the newspaper wrote on Tuesday.”Lawsuits, arrests, imprisonment, persecution, and attacks by adversaries are far from uncommon. Khaleda Zia endured such ordeals at their most extreme.”

Bangladesh’s former prime minister Khaleda Zia, who many believed would sweep elections next year to lead her country once again, died on Tuesday aged 80, her Bangladesh Nationalist Party said.”The BNP Chairperson and former prime minister, the national leader Begum Khaleda Zia, passed away today at 6:00 am (0000 GMT), just after the Fajr (dawn) prayer,” the party said in a statement.”We pray for the forgiveness of her soul and request everyone to offer prayers for her departed soul,” it added.Despite years of ill health and imprisonment, Zia vowed in November to campaign in elections set for February 2026 — the first vote since a mass uprising toppled her arch-rival Sheikh Hasina last year.The BNP is widely seen as a frontrunner.But in late November she was rushed to hospital, where, despite the best efforts of medics, her condition declined from a raft of health issues.Nevertheless, hours before her death, party workers had on Monday submitted nomination papers on her behalf for three constituencies for the polls.During her final days, interim leader Muhammad Yunus called for the nation to pray for Zia, calling her a “source of utmost inspiration for the nation”.BNP’s media chief Moudud Alamgir Pavel also confirmed Zia’s death to AFP.Zia was jailed for corruption in 2018 under Hasina’s government, which also blocked her from travelling abroad for medical treatment.She was released last year, shortly after Hasina was forced from power.There had been plans earlier this month to fly her on a special air ambulance to London, but her condition was not stable enough.Her son, political heavyweight Tarique Rahman, only returned to Bangladesh after 17 years in self-imposed exile on Thursday, where he was welcomed back by huge crowds of joyous supporters.Rahman will lead the party through the February 12 general election, and is expected to be put forward as prime minister if his party wins a majority.Bangladesh’s Prothom Alo newspaper, who said that Zia had “earned the epithet of the ‘uncompromising leader'”, reported that Rahman and other family members were by her side at the time of her death.”The lives of politicians are marked by rises and falls,” the newspaper wrote on Tuesday.”Lawsuits, arrests, imprisonment, persecution, and attacks by adversaries are far from uncommon. Khaleda Zia endured such ordeals at their most extreme.”

Bangladesh’s three-time prime minister Khaleda Zia, who hoped to lead her nation one last time after elections next year, died on Tuesday aged 80.Zia, a dominant figure for decades in the South Asian country’s turbulent power struggles, had vowed to run in elections next year, the first since a mass uprising toppled her arch-rival.Despite years of ill health and imprisonment, just last month Zia had promised to campaign in elections expected in February 2026, in which her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is widely seen as a frontrunner.”Unite the party and prepare to lead,” Zia had urged BNP members earlier this year.But in late November she was rushed to hospital, where despite the best efforts of medics, her condition declined from a raft of health issues. Zia was jailed for corruption in 2018 under the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina, which also barred her from travelling abroad for medical treatment.She was released shortly after Hasina’s ouster in August 2024.- ‘Battle of the Begums’ -For decades, Bangladesh’s politics was defined by the bitter rivalry between Zia and Hasina — a feud dubbed the “Battle of the Begums”, an honorific title in South Asia for a powerful woman.The hatred traces back to the 1975 assassination of Hasina’s father, independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, along with most of her family, in a coup.Three months later, Zia’s husband, Ziaur Rahman, then deputy army chief, effectively took control. He became president in 1977. He was himself assassinated in 1981.Zia, then a 35-year-old mother of two, inherited the BNP leadership.Initially dismissed as a political novice, Zia proved a formidable opponent, rallying against military dictator Hussain Muhammad Ershad, and later joining forces with Hasina to oust him in 1990.The two women alternated in power for the next decade and a half.Their intractable rivalry fuelled crises, including the January 2007 standoff that brought military-backed emergency rule. Both women were detained for more than a year.Hasina later dominated, ruling from 2008 until her violent downfall in 2024.Zia’s own tenure left a mixed legacy: she was admired for her resolve but criticised for her refusal to compromise, which often left her isolated, domestically and internationally.But Zia’s political legacy may yet continue.Her son, Tarique Rahman, 60, long seen as her political heir, has also said he will run in the polls.Rahman, known in Bangladesh as Tarique Zia, returned from exile in London on December 25, after fleeing what he called politically motivated persecution in 2008.Following Hasina’s fall, he was acquitted of the most serious charge against him: a life sentence handed down in absentia for a 2004 grenade attack on a Hasina rally, which he has always denied.His image is displayed alongside his mother’s on party banners, offering a potential new chapter in Bangladesh’s enduring political saga.

India’s navy boasts aircraft carriers, submarines, warships and frontline vessels of steel as it spreads its maritime power worldwide.But none of its vessels is as unusual as its newest addition that sets sail on its maiden Indian Ocean crossing on Monday — a wooden stitched ship inspired by a fifth-century design, built not to dominate the seas but to remember how India once traversed them.Steered by giant oars rather than a rudder, with two fixed square sails to catch seasonal monsoon winds, it heads westward on its first voyage across the seas, a 1,400-kilometre (870-mile) voyage to Oman’s capital Muscat.Named Kaundinya, after a legendary Indian mariner, its 20-metre (65-foot) long hull is sewn together with coconut coir rope rather than nailed.”This voyage reconnects the past with the present,” Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan said, sending the ship off from Porbandar, in India’s western state of Gujarat, on an estimated two-week crossing.”We are not only retracing ancient pathways of trade, navigation, and cultural exchange, but also reaffirming India’s position as a natural maritime bridge across the Indian Ocean.”The journey evokes a time when Indian sailors were regular traders with the Roman Empire, the Middle East, Africa, and lands to the east — today’s Thailand, Indonesia, China and as far as Japan.”This voyage is not just symbolic,” Swaminathan said. “It is of deep strategic and cultural significance to our nation, as we aim to resurrect and revive ancient Indian maritime concepts and capabilities in all their forms.”- ‘A bridge’ -The ship’s 18-strong crew has already sailed north along India’s palm-fringed coast, from Karnataka to Gujarat.”Our peoples have long looked to the Indian Ocean not as a boundary, but as a bridge carrying commerce and ideas, culture and friendship, across its waters,” said Oman’s ambassador to India, Issa Saleh Alshibani.”The monsoon winds that once guided traditional ships between our ports also carried a shared understanding that prosperity grows when we remain connected, open and cooperative.”The journey is daunting. The ship’s builders have refused modern shortcuts, instead relying on traditional shipbuilding methods.”Life on board is basic — no cabins, just the deck,” said crew member Sanjeev Sanyal, the 55-year-old historian who conceived the project, who is also Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic adviser.”We sleep on hammocks hanging from the mast,” he told AFP before the voyage.Sanyal, an Oxford-educated scholar and former international banker, drew up the blueprints with traditional shipwrights, basing designs on descriptions from ancient texts, paintings and coins.”Vasco da Gama is 500 years back,” he said, referring to the Portuguese sailor who reached India in 1498. “This is 6,000-, 7,000-year-old history.”- ‘So much gold’ -India is part of the Quad security alliance with the United States, Australia and Japan, seen as a counterweight to Beijing’s presence in the Indian Ocean.For India, the voyage is also a soft-power showcase to challenge perceptions that it was China’s “Silk Road” caravans that dominated ancient East-West trade.That land trade, as described by 13th-century Venetian merchant Marco Polo, peaked centuries after India’s sea route.”India was running such large surpluses with the Romans that you have Pliny the Elder… complaining that they were losing so much gold to India,” Sanyal said.The ship’s only modern power source is a small battery for a radio transponder and navigation lights, because wooden vessels do not show up well on radar.”When you hit a big wave, you can see the hull cave in a little bit”, he said, explaining that the stitched design allowed it to flex.”But it is one thing to know this in theory,” he said. “It is quite another thing to build one of these and have skin in the game by sailing it oneself.”

Myanmar’s dominant pro-military party claimed an overwhelming victory in the first phase of the elections, a senior party official told AFP, after democracy watchdogs warned the junta-run poll would entrench military rule.The armed forces snatched power in a 2021 coup, but on Sunday opened voting in a phased month-long election they pledge will return power to the people.”We won 82 lower house seats in townships which have finished counting, out of the total of 102,” a senior member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) told AFP.The figure implies that the party — which many analysts describe as a civilian proxy of the military — took more than 80 percent of the lower house seats that were put to the vote on Sunday.It won all eight townships in the capital Naypyidaw, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to disclose the results.At the last poll in 2020, the USDP was trounced by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), which was dissolved after the coup and did not appear on Sunday’s ballots.The Nobel laureate has been in detention since the putsch, which triggered a civil war.Campaigners, Western diplomats and the United Nations’ rights chief have condemned the vote — citing a stark crackdown on dissent and a candidate list stacked with military allies.”It makes sense that the USDP would dominate,” said Morgan Michaels, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank.”The election is not credible,” he told AFP. “They rig it ahead of time by banning different parties, making sure that certain people don’t turn up to vote, or they do turn up to vote under threat of coercion to vote a certain way.”Official results have yet to be posted by Myanmar’s Union Election Commission and two more phases are scheduled for January 11 and 25.”My view on the election is clear: I don’t trust it at all,” Yangon resident Min Khant said Monday.”We have been living under a dictatorship,” said the 28-year-old. “Even if they do hold elections, I don’t think anything good will come of them because they always lie.”After voting on Sunday, military chief Min Aung Hlaing — who has ruled by diktat for the past five years — said the armed forces could be trusted to hand back power to a civilian-led government.”We guarantee it to be a free and fair election,” he told reporters in Naypyidaw. “It’s organised by the military, we can’t let our name be tarnished.”The coup triggered a civil war as pro-democracy activists formed guerrilla units, fighting alongside ethnic minority armies which have long resisted central rule.Sunday’s election was scheduled to take place in 102 of the country’s 330 townships — the most of the three phases of voting.But amid the war, the military has acknowledged that elections cannot happen in almost one in five lower house constituencies.

Myanmar’s dominant pro-military party claimed an overwhelming victory in the first phase of the country’s junta-run elections, a senior party official told AFP, after democracy watchdogs warned the poll would entrench military rule.The armed forces snatched power in a 2021 coup, but on Sunday opened voting in a phased month-long election they pledge will return power to the people.”We won 82 lower house seats in townships which have finished counting, out of the total of 102,” a senior official of the Union Solidarity and Development Party told AFP.The party won all eight townships in the capital Naypyidaw, they added, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to officially disclose the results.At the last poll in 2020 the USDP was trounced by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), which was dissolved after the coup and did not appear on Sunday’s ballots.The Nobel laureate has been in detention since the putsch, which triggered a civil war.Campaigners, Western diplomats and the United Nations’ rights chief have condemned the vote — citing a stark crackdown on dissent and a candidate list stacked with military allies.Official results have yet to be posted by Myanmar’s Union Election Commission and two more phases are scheduled for January 11 and 25.”My view on the election is clear: I don’t trust it at all,” Yangon resident Min Khant said on Monday.”We have been living under a dictatorship,” said the 28-year-old. “Even if they do hold elections, I don’t think anything good will come of them because they always lie.”Many analysts describe the USDP as a civilian proxy of the military, saying former officers serve in senior leadership roles.After voting on Sunday military chief Min Aung Hlaing — who has ruled by diktat for the past five years — said the armed forces could be trusted to hand back power to a civilian-led government.”We guarantee it to be a free and fair election,” he told reporters in Naypyidaw. “It’s organised by the military, we can’t let our name be tarnished.”The military’s coup triggered a civil war as pro-democracy activists formed guerrilla units, fighting alongside ethnic minority armies which have long resisted central rule.Sunday’s election was scheduled to take place in 102 of the country’s 330 townships — the most of the three phases of voting.But amid the war, the military has acknowledged that elections cannot happen in almost one in five lower house constituencies.

Myanmar’s dominant pro-military party is “winning a majority” in the first phase of junta-run elections, a party source told AFP Monday, after democracy watchdogs warned the poll would entrench military rule.The armed forces snatched power in a 2021 coup, but on Sunday opened voting in a phased month-long election they pledge will return power to the people.The massively popular but dissolved party of democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi did not appear on ballots, and she remains jailed since the military putsch which triggered a civil war.Campaigners, Western diplomats and the United Nations’ rights chief have condemned the vote — citing a stark crackdown on dissent and a candidate list stacked with military allies.”The USDP is winning a majority of seats around the country according to different reports,” said a party official in the capital Naypyidaw, requesting anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to media.Official results have yet to be posted by Myanmar’s Union Election Commission and there are two more phases scheduled for January 11 and 25.The military overturned the results of the last poll in 2020 after Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, trounced the Union Solidarity and Development Party.The military and USDP then alleged massive voter fraud, claims which international monitors say were unfounded.But on Sunday military chief Min Aung Hlaing — who has ruled by diktat for the past five years — said the armed forces could be trusted to hand back power to a civilian-led government.”We guarantee it to be a free and fair election,” he told reporters after casting his vote in Naypyidaw. “It’s organised by the military, we can’t let our name be tarnished.”The military’s coup triggered a civil war as pro-democracy activists formed guerrilla units, fighting alongside ethnic minority armies which have long resisted central rule.Sunday’s election was scheduled to take place in 102 of the country’s 330 townships — the largest of the three rounds of voting.But amid the war, the military has acknowledged that elections cannot happen in almost one in five lower house constituencies.

Rohingya refugees living in squalid camps in Bangladesh have elected a leadership council, hoping it can improve conditions and revive efforts to secure their return home to Myanmar.Spread over 8,000 acres in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, the camps are home to 1.7 million members of the stateless group, many of whom fled a 2017 military crackdown that is now subject to a genocide probe at the UN court.In July, the refugees held their first elections since their influx began eight years ago, resulting in the formation of the United Council of Rohang (UCR).”They are working to take us home,” said Khairul Islam, 37, who back home had a thriving timber business.The new council has brought him a glimmer of hope amid an uncertain future.”We can hardly breathe in these cramped camp rooms… all our family members live in a single room,” he said.”It’s unbearably hot inside. Back in Myanmar, we didn’t even need a ceiling fan. In summer, we used to sit under tall trees,” Islam said, his eyes welling up.More than 3,000 voters from across 33 refugee camps cast their ballots to elect an executive committee and five rotating presidents to focus on human rights, education and health.Addressing a gathering at one of the camps, UCR president Mohammad Sayed Ullah urged refugees not to forget the violence that forced the mostly Muslim group to flee Myanmar’s Rakhine state.”Never forget that we left our parents’ graves behind. Our women died on the way here. They were tortured and killed… and some drowned at sea,” said Sayed Ullah, dressed in a white full-sleeved shirt and lungi.”We must prepare ourselves to return home,” he said, prompting members of the audience to nod in agreement.- A seat at the table -“UCR wants to emerge as the voice of the Rohingyas on the negotiation table,” Sayed Ullah later told AFP.”It’s about us, yet we were nowhere as stakeholders.”The council is not the first attempt to organise Rohingya refugees.Several groups emerged after 2017, including the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, once led by prominent activist Mohib Ullah.But he was murdered in 2021.And even before that, many organisations were shut down after a major 2019 rally, when the Rohingya said they would go home only with full rights and safety guarantees.”Some newspapers misrepresented us, claiming we wanted to stay permanently in Bangladesh,” Sayed Ullah said.”Many organisers were detained. The hardest blow was the assassination of Mohib Ullah.”But trust is slowly building up again among the Rohingya crammed in the camps in Cox’s Bazar.”Of course we will return home,” said 18-year-old Mosharraf, who fled the town of Buthidaung with his family.”UCR will negotiate for better education. If we are better educated, we can build global consensus for our return,” he told AFP.- Security threats -Many refugees have started approaching the body with complaints against local Rohingya leaders, reflecting a slow but noticeable shift in attitudes.On a recent sunny morning, an AFP reporter saw more than a dozen Rohingya waiting outside the UCR office with complaints.Some said they were tortured while others reported losing small amounts of gold they had carried while fleeing their homes.Analysts say it remains unclear whether the new council can genuinely represent the Rohingya or if it ultimately serves the interests of Bangladeshi authorities.”The UCR ‘elections’ appear to have been closely controlled by the authorities,” said Thomas Kean, senior consultant at the International Crisis Group.Security threats also loom large, undermining efforts to forge political dialogue.Armed groups like the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army and Rohingya Solidarity Organisation continue to operate in the camps.A report by campaign group Fortify Rights said at least 65 Rohingyas were killed in 2024.”Violence and killings in the Rohingya camps need to stop, and those responsible must be held to account,” the report quoted activist John Quinley as saying.