{"id":791,"date":"2026-01-02T03:19:43","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T03:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/we-are-always-living-in-fear-inside-myanmars-sham-election\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T03:19:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T03:19:43","slug":"we-are-always-living-in-fear-inside-myanmars-sham-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/we-are-always-living-in-fear-inside-myanmars-sham-election\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We are always living in fear\u2019: inside Myanmar\u2019s \u2018sham\u2019 election"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Myanmar\u2019s military rulers are holding the first elections since the 2021 coup, and life in the country\u2019s biggest city is fraught with anxiety<br \/>\nYangon feels, on the surface, like a normal, bustling city. In downtown areas, commuters stream past roadside sellers and diners perch beneath parasols. Packed buses and cars chug along the roads. At sunset, young people stop to pose for photos opposite the famous Sule pagoda, as it gleams against a pink-blue sky.But almost five years on from the military seized power in a coup, ousting and imprisoning then de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, life for local people feels anything but stable. Myanmar\u2019s military rulers are in the process of holding the first elections since before the coup, a vote that the junta has touted as a return to democracy and stability. The UN and western governments have called the process, which will be held in three phases ending on 25 January, a sham. Continue reading&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Myanmar\u2019s military rulers are holding the first elections since the 2021 coup, and life in the country\u2019s biggest city is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}