Polls have closed in Myanmar after the third and final round of voting in an election widely seen as a sham. Many popular parties are banned from contesting. Voting was impossible in large parts of the country due to a five-year civil war. The dominant military-backed party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), is expected to win a landslide victory. About one-fifth of Myanmar’s 330 townships, including Yangon and Mandalay, voted in this final stage. Six parties, including the USDP, ran nationwide, while 51 other parties and independents contested lower-level seats. Previous rounds on December 28 and January 11 gave overwhelming wins to the USDP, which had won only 6% of seats in the last free election in 2020. A BBC team observed voting at a peaceful, orderly polling station in Shan State. New electronic machines were used, and the process looked like a normal election. But the campaign period was full of fear and intimidation. Locals were too nervous to talk openly. BBC reporters were followed by polite but persistent police and military officials. The military regime rejected international criticism, calling the election free and fair. Once results are announced, parliament will meet within two months to choose a new president. Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the coup leader, is expected to take the post but must give up his military command. His replacement will be a loyalist, though the military’s loyalty to him is not certain. The military took power in a 2021 coup, ousting the elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Her party, the National League for Democracy, has been dissolved, and she remains detained. The junta continues fighting ethnic armies and resistance groups. Civil war has killed thousands, displaced millions, wrecked the economy, and created a huge humanitarian crisis worsened by a recent earthquake and funding cuts.