Sri Lanka, Jan. 5 -- Myanmar's dominant pro-military party won the first phase of junta-run elections, the last released official results showed on Monday (Jan 5), with the USDP taking nearly 90 per cent of lower house seats.

The military staged a 2021 coup that ousted the democratic government of Aung San Suu Kyi, but is overseeing a month-long phased election it pledges will return power to the people.

Western diplomats and democracy advocates dismiss the poll as a ploy to rebrand military rule, citing Aung San Suu Kyi's jailing, her party's dissolution, a crackdown on dissenters and a ballot stacked with military allies.

The pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) won 89 of 102 lower house seats included in the fi...