Myanmar Votes in Second Phase as Military Party Claims Lead

Myanmar voters returned to the polls in military-controlled areas on Sunday for the second phase of an election organized by the ruling junta, a process rejected by several western governments and rights groups as lacking legitimacy.

Voting is taking place in 100 of Myanmar’s 330 townships in this round, according to the junta-run Union Election Commission. But even within those areas, polls aren’t open in hundreds of wards and village tracts because of security concerns amid nationwide civil conflict since the regime took power in a coup nearly five years ago.