Junta mandates prison sentences for polls critics

Myanmar's junta said yesterday it has enacted a new law dictating prison sentences for critics or protesters of their planned election, which is being boycotted by opposition groups.

The junta seized power in a 2021 coup, sparking a many-sided civil war, and has touted elections at the end of this year as a path to peace.

Opposition groups -- including democratic lawmakers ousted by the military takeover -- and international monitors have called the polls a ploy to legitimise the junta's rule.

State newspaper The Global New Light of Myanmar said the "Law on the Protection of Multiparty Democratic Elections from Obstruction, Disruption and Destruction" was enacted on Tuesday.

Its 14-page text forbids "any speech, organising, inciting, protesting or distributing leaflets in order to destroy a part of the electoral process".

Individuals convicted face between three and seven years behind bars.