GENEVA: At least 170 civilians were killed in more than 400 military air strikes in Myanmar in the weeks surrounding its widely-criticised elections, the United Nations said Friday.

Myanmar's month-long, three-phase vote, which wrapped up on Sunday, was imposed by the military in what democracy watchdogs dismissed as an attempt to rebrand army rule.

The UN rights office, which has been harshly critical of the elections, warned Friday that they had failed to respect fundamental human rights and that military attacks on the population had continued unabated.

"These elections did not prevent violence from continuing throughout 2025," James Rodehaver, head of the rights office's Myanmar team, told reporters in Geneva.

Speaking from Bangkok, he highlighted that 2025 was "the year in which more civilians died from airstrikes than any other since 2021", and that "air strikes continued even through election days".

The UN said "credible sources" had verified that at least "170 civilians were killed in some 408 military aerial attacks reported by open sources during the voting period", the nearly two months from early December.

Rodehaver warned, though that the numbers could rise, pointing out that their verification was complicated since communications are cut off and due to "the fear of individuals in some of these locations to speak to us".

'Forcing people to the ballot box'

The UN rights office pointed to initial reports of a military air strike "on a populated area with no reported presence of combatants" that killed up to 50 civilians in Bhamo Township, in Kachin State, on January 22.

To curb any dissent, the military had also arrested 324 men and 80 women under its unilaterally-adopted election protection law, including for minor online activity, the office said, decrying the "grossly disproportionate penalties" doled out.

In one case, it said a 49-year sentence was handed down for posting anti-election materials.

Five years after the coup that swept Myanmar's junta to power, UN rights chief Volker Turk warned that "the profound and widespread despair inflicted on the people of Myanmar has only deepened with the recent election staged by the military".

He pointed out that "many people chose either to vote or not to vote purely out of fear, flatly at odds with their internationally guaranteed civil and political rights -- and with ripple effects on their enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights".

"The conflict and insecurity continued unabated in large parts of the country. Opposition candidates and some ethnic groups were excluded," he said.

His office pointed out that the elections were held in only 263 of 330 townships, often exclusively in urban centres under military control, and limited in conflict areas.

"As a result, large segments of the population, especially the displaced and minorities, such as the ethnic Rohingya, were excluded," it pointed out.

Voter coercion was also reported nationwide.

In one incident on January 6, more than 100 villagers in the Sagaing region were arbitrarily detained and compelled to cast advance ballots, the rights office said.

Turk decried that five years of military rule in Myanmar had been "characterised by repression of political dissent, mass arbitrary arrests, arbitrary conscription, widespread surveillance and limitation of civic space".

"Now, the military is seeking to entrench its rule by violence after forcing people to the ballot box," he said.

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At least 170 civilians killed in Myanmar air strikes during election: UN