Though soldiers cast ballots outside their bases for the first time in the November election, the military vote enabled the Union Solidarity and Development Party to clinch rare victories in borderland constituencies.
The Tatmadaw has occupied the border town of Myawaddy and the Kayin State Border Guard Force has sealed off its nearby Shwe Kokko enclave as tensions rise over the group’s business empire.
Government officials are sorting through hundreds of thousands of complaints from households that missed out on a November cash transfer, as new research from the World Bank reveals the heavy toll of the pandemic on vulnerable families.
