CaliToday (28/12/2025): As the polls opened across Myanmar today, December 28, ending nearly five years of delayed electoral promises, Vietnam has joined a select group of nations in deploying observers to monitor the controversial process. The move places Hanoi alongside Russia, China, and India in engaging with the military administration, even as the Southeast Asian nation remains fractured by a brutal civil war.
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| Myanmar's Ministry of Information, under the military government, shows images of foreign inspectors landing at Nay Pyi Taw airport on December 26-27. |
The Mystery Envoy
According to an official communique released by the Myanmar Ministry of Information on December 26, the Vietnamese delegation is led by Mr. Nguyen Duc Thinh, who was introduced under the title "Head of International Relations."
While Vietnamese state media outlets, including VOV, have confirmed that observers were dispatched to monitor the general election, they have stopped short of publicly identifying the head of the delegation. However, independent analysis by BBC News Vietnamese suggests the delegate is likely Mr. Nguyen Duc Thinh, the Head of the International Relations Department of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, who was appointed to the post in March 2025.
This low-key appointment suggests a delicate diplomatic balancing act by Hanoi—maintaining regional ties within ASEAN while navigating the complex optics of engaging with the State Administration Council (SAC).
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| Myanmar's Ministry of Information, under the military government, shows images of foreign inspectors landing at Nay Pyi Taw airport on December 26-27. |
Ballots Amidst Bullets
The election kicks off today, December 28, against a backdrop of devastation. It has been nearly five years since the military toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, plunging the country into chaos.
Currently, Myanmar is engulfed in a fierce internal conflict that has claimed thousands of lives and displaced over 3 million people. Large swathes of the country remain under the control of resistance forces and ethnic armed organizations, making voting impossible in many regions.
A Quest for Legitimacy?
The presence of observers from Vietnam, Russia, China, and India provides a thin layer of international oversight to a process that Western nations and human rights groups have largely dismissed.
Most international analysts view this election not as a genuine restoration of democracy, but as a strategic maneuver by the military junta. By holding these polls, the SAC aims to transition towards a "disciplined democracy" under military tutelage, seeking to legitimize its continued rule in the eyes of the region, if not the world.