In a strong bipartisan move this week, several U.S. representatives issued a statement condemning elections currently planned for December in Myanmar, calling them a sham and urging the Trump administration to publicly stand against the exercise.

Members of Congress “are united in support of the Burmese people in their struggle for freedom and democracy,” the statement read. “We urge the Administration to publicly condemn the junta’s upcoming sham elections.”

Signing the statement were Representatives Young Kim and Ami Bera — chair and ranking member, respectively, of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on East Asia and Pacific — and Representatives Bill Huizenga and Sydney Kamlager-Dove — chair and ranking member, respectively, of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia.

Many analysts have panned the upcoming elections as a shallow attempt to paper over serious, ongoing human rights abuses, including an intense campaign of military persecution against various ethnoreligious minorities. This week’s congressional statement called for America to continue standing with the people of Myanmar as they seek “freedom, dignity, and a democratic future.”

The country’s military rulers see the vote as a potential step toward legitimizing their rule and as their best chance to gain broad international recognition. While Russia, China, and India have provided the junta with support both internally and internationally, few countries globally have recognized the regime, and it remains sidelined by ASEAN, a key regional bloc.

The regime controls only a limited portion of the country and lacks the logistical capacity to conduct free and fair elections in opposition-held areas. The most recent data indicates that the junta controls only about 21% of territory, compared to 42% controlled by rebel militants.

The military has not fared well in years of back-and-forth fighting, despite its superior arms and nearly exclusive control of the airspace, which it uses to bomb villages and civilian gatherings in ethnoreligious minority areas. It has imprisoned or killed thousands of opposition figures, pro-democracy activists, and journalists, and has shown no signs of easing restrictions ahead of the vote.

In March, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released a report criticizing the Tatmadaw for its systematic repression of religious minorities and urging the international community to increase attention to the plight of the persecuted in Myanmar.

“The country has seen the displacement of over 3.5 million people in recent years,” the USCIRF report noted, “including more than 90,000 in Christian-majority Chin State, 237,200 in Kachin State, and one million Muslim-majority Rohingya refugees.”

Although a large majority of the population is ethnic Burman and an even greater percentage is Buddhist, the communities that make up the remainder are well-established, well-organized, and, for the most part, predate the formation of the modern state by centuries.

In many cases, Myanmar’s ethnic minorities have taken on a distinct religious identity as well. About 20-30% of ethnic Karen are Christians, while other groups — such as the Chin — are more than 90% Christian. This overlap of ethnic and religious identity has created a volatile situation for believers.

Representing an extremist interpretation of Buddhism, the Burmese military has a long history of violence against the people of Myanmar, including against ethnic and religious minorities like the Muslim-majority Rohingya and Christian-majority Chin.

The junta is known to abduct children, forcing them to walk ahead of their troops through minefields. In many cases, their victims are members of ethnic and religious minority communities fighting back against the atrocities of a military that has waged a decades-long war of ethnic and religious cleansing.

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