Polling stations have opened in some areas of conflict-racked Myanmar for an election that has been widely condemned as a sham designed to legitimise the military junta’s rule.

The most popular party is banned from running in the election, and large areas of the country will be completely excluded because they are under the control of anti-junta groups or racked by fierce fighting.

In locations where the election is taking place, campaigning has been muted – lacking the vibrant, packed rallies that marked past votes. The red flags and signs associated with the country’s most popular politician, Aung San Suu Kyi, and her party, the National League for Democracy, which covered the streets in previous elections, are also absent. The former de facto leader, who is 80, has been detained since she was ousted in the coup, and her party has been banned.

The election has been condemned by the UN and western governments, but has support from China, which is the military’s most important ally. China, Russia, India and Vietnam have sent election observers, according to military-controlled media.

The military has rejected criticism of the election, saying it is “being conducted with public support” and is “for the people of Myanmar, not for the international community”, while junta-controlled media has said voting will go ahead in the most populous cities.

The military is framing the election as a return to democracy, and this weekend lifted a longstanding curfew that had been in place in Yangon, the largest city, citing improved stability.

Intense conflict continues to rage elsewhere, however. On Saturday afternoon, just hours before the vote, the military reportedly carried out airstrikes on villages in Wetlet township in the Sagaing region north of Mandalay, according to local media. Myanmar has been gripped by conflict since the military seized power in a coup in 2021, provoking a dogged armed opposition.

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Violence has also been reported in areas where voting is taking place. Explosions were reported near three polling stations in Pyay, Bago region, in southern central Myanmar, while in Myawaddy in the south-east an office belonging to the Union Solidarity and Development party (USDP), the military’s proxy party, was targeted in a drone attack, according to local media reports on Saturday night.

In Yangon, residents were reluctant to be interviewed ahead of the vote, fearing retaliation by the military.

Tens of thousands of people have been arrested for expressing political views since the coup, and in July the military introduced a new election protection law that prohibits disruption or criticism of the vote. People have been arrested for putting up anti-election stickers, or for sending private Facebook messages criticising the election. Those prosecuted under the law face a sentence of at least three years in prison, or even the death penalty.

In September, a man in Shan state was sentenced to seven years with hard labour under the law for criticising the election in a Facebook post.

“I fear the nation is falling deeper and deeper into darkness,” said a resident in Yangon, who spoke anonymously ahead of the election. She was not voting, and nor was her family, as they did not want to give the election credibility. Others may do so, she added, but only out of fear. “Some people are so afraid that if they don’t show up, the military will come to their homes and arrest them.”

The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, said the elections were “clearly taking place in an environment of violence and repression”.

Rights groups have called on international governments to reject the vote. Yadanar Maung, a Justice For Myanmar spokesperson, said the election was an attempt by the military to “manufacture legitimacy while it slaughters civilians with total impunity”.

The military has carried out relentless airstrikes as it attempts to regain ground lost to opposition groups since the coup. The UN human rights office has warned of “widespread and systematic patterns of the military indiscriminately attacking civilians and protected objects” as well as disappearances, arbitrary arrests, arson and property destruction, denial of humanitarian assistance, and “repeated atrocities aimed at terrorising the Myanmar people”.

The coup plunged Myanmar into economic chaos and it is now “one of the world’s most dire and yet underfunded” humanitarian crises, according to the UN.

The UN has warned that more than 16 million people in Myanmar, of a population of 51 million, will require life-saving humanitarian assistance and protection in 2026.