Same Old Regime, Same Old Sanctions

On the 31st of January, the Burmese parliament convened for the first time in over 20 years. However, little has changed from before. The outcome of the election only slightly altered the political landscape; the military junta, which has been in power since 1962, was already guaranteed a quarter of the seats and not only that – 77 percent of the contested seats were won by the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the party backed by the junta. Naturally, the election was deemed as rigged and nothing but a poorly performed stage production in democracy.