The Rohingya Muslim community, which has already faced violence and discrimination, is being even further erased from our country. An election that excludes entire communities because of their identity cannot be considered credible, free, nor fair. The disenfranchisement of Rohingya based on their identity only solidifies divisions and deepens marginalisation that already exists.

Electoral problems in 2020 included discriminatory citizenship and other laws that bar most Rohingya Muslim voters and candidates; reservation of 25 percent of parliamentary seats for the military; criminal prosecutions of government critics; unequal party access to government media; and the lack of an independent election commission and complaints resolution mechanism.

When Myanmar holds on Sunday its second democratic election after decades of military rule, Yusuf will be among hundreds of thousands of mostly Muslim Rohingya deprived of a vote. “Not being able to vote makes me feel really sad. It feels as though we are dead and we don’t matter,” said Yusuf, 65, who lives in the world’s largest refugee settlement in Bangladesh. “These rights are important. I don’t know if we will even be able to vote in 2025.”

Living in squalid makeshift tents in Bangladesh, more than one million Rohingya have been disenfranchised in the general elections in Myanmar for the second time, rising frustration among the persecuted people. “We are being denied by the government of Myanmar. We are citizens of Myanmar. So we must deserve the right of voting,”

More than 1.3 million minority Rohingya Muslims living in Myanmar were disqualified from voting under the 1982 Citizenship Law of the country.