A bipartisan group of senators and representatives is urging the Trump administration to reject the results of Myanmar's election next month, saying they will not be free or fair.
Sens. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., the chair and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Reps. Brian Mast, R-Fla., and Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., the chair and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued a statement about the Dec. 28 elections, which are being organized by the military with support from China.
"Myanmar's planned elections this December are proving to be a sham," the legislators said of the Southeast Asian country formerly called Burma.
"These elections are designed to manufacture legitimacy for the China-backed junta after its 2021 coup and ongoing campaign of violence against the Burmese people," the legislators added.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee recently held a hearing during which witnesses testified to the illegitimacy of the upcoming election.
"In keeping with America's commitment to democracy and internationally recognized human rights, we urge the Trump Administration — and all of America's democratic allies — to speak out against these flawed elections and any electoral results that would deny the right of the Burmese people to freely and fairly choose their own government," the legislators said.
"At great risk of death, imprisonment, and torture, the Burmese people have bravely resisted the junta's authoritarian rule and prevented it from consolidating control over the country," the legislators added.
"The junta's dissolution of several political parties in 2023, including the National League of Democracy, coupled with the continued imprisonment, persecution, or exile of many officials duly elected in the 2020 general elections, makes clear that any forthcoming vote risks being neither free nor fair," the legislators continued.
"Under these conditions, the United States must categorically reject this electoral farce."
On Monday, the Trump administration announced it was ending protected status for Myanmar citizens due to the country's "notable progress in governance and stability," even though it remains mired in a bloody civil war and the head of its military regime faces possible U.N. war crimes charges.
In her announcement Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem cited the military's plans for "free and fair elections" in December and "successful ceasefire agreements" as among the reasons for her decision.
"The situation in Burma has improved enough that it is safe for Burmese citizens to return home," she said in a statement.
Phil Robertson, the director of Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates, said Noem was "seriously deluded" if she believes the elections would be free and fair.
"She is just making things up when she claims nonexistent ceasefires proclaimed by Myanmar's military junta will result in political progress," Robertson said.
Noem said her decision to remove the Temporary Protected Status protection was made in consultation with the State Department, though its latest report on human rights in Myanmar cites "credible reports of: arbitrary or unlawful killings; disappearances; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; arbitrary arrest or detention."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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