17 March 2026
The Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) is urging the Australian Government to push for renewed international action on the ongoing crisis in Myanmar, as the country’s military junta convenes a new parliament following an election process almost universally dismissed as fraudulent.
The elections were conducted in phases due to the ongoing conflict and were only held in areas under the control of the military regime, less than a third of Myanmar’s territory. Of Myanmar’s 330 townships, only 145 had voter lists compiled and dozens of townships did not participate due to active fighting.
The junta scheduled the first sitting of the lower house of its new parliament for 16 March 2026, the first parliamentary session since the military coup in 2021. The parliament will be dominated by lawmakers from the junta-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), alongside military-appointed members who fill the constitutionally reserved 25% of seats.
Major opposition parties were banned from participating under the Political Parties Registration Law. Entire communities were excluded from the electoral process, including the Rohingya population.
The parliamentary session is likely to be used by the military authorities to project an image of political normalcy and legitimacy following elections that were widely rejected by the international community as neither free nor credible. In practice, the parliament will remain heavily influenced by the military and its allies.
With resistance groups and ethnic armed organisations controlling much of the country, the parliamentary session is unlikely to change conditions on the ground. Fighting continues across multiple regions of Myanmar, including Shan, Kachin, Sagaing, Karen and Rakhine states, with airstrikes and artillery attacks continuing in many areas.
After five years of fighting since the military coup in February 2021, more than 3.6 million Myanmar citizens are internally displaced and more than 1.6 million are living as refugees, primarily in Thailand, Bangladesh and Malaysia.
Displacement is expected to remain protracted as ongoing conflict prevents families from returning home. Many civilians have been displaced multiple times as frontlines shift, while humanitarian access remains severely constrained across large parts of the country.
Australia is home to around 45,000 people born in Myanmar, most of them having arrived over the past 20 years as humanitarian entrants. Many are from the Chin, Kachin, Karen, Rohingya and Zo ethnic minorities.
Bangladesh is home to the largest group of refugees from Myanmar, more than one million members of the stateless Rohingya community. The ongoing conflict means that safe and voluntary return for Rohingya refugees remains a distant prospect.
Noor Azizah, Co-Executive Director of the Rohingya Maiyafuinor Collaborative Network, said many Rohingya view the recent developments with deep concern.
“The elections cannot be considered democratic. The process was controlled by the same military authorities responsible for atrocities and genocide against the Rohingya and other ethnic communities. Entire communities, including Rohingya, were excluded from the political process.
“Without justice, accountability, restoration of citizenship and recognition of Rohingya as a people of Myanmar, there can be no meaningful democratic future for the country.”
RCOA Co-CEO Paul Power said the international community must remain clear about the situation in Myanmar.
“The conditions for a genuine democratic transition in Myanmar do not exist while violence continues and large parts of the population are excluded from political participation.”
Chris Sidoti, International Human Rights Consultant and former Australian Human Rights Commissioner, said, “Myanmar does not have a newly elected government or a newly elected parliament. It has had a junta-sponsored fraudulent election which has purported to produce a parliament which will choose a president and executive who will purport to appoint a government but neither the parliament nor any claimant to being the government is legitimate. The junta is still the junta and it’s the boss over so much of the country that the military may control (much less than half). The alleged government may have limited control over that part of the country, subject to the junta, and so constitute in part a de facto authority, but Myanmar will not have a de jure parliament or government.”
