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All of Myanmar's 330 townships have been designated as constituencies for the election, the Union Election Commission said previously. Nearly 60 parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, have registered to run, according to the commission.

The commission announced the start date Monday and said the elections will be conducted in phases and a full schedule will be released soon.

Several opposition organizations, including armed resistance groups, have said they will try to derail the election. The military government enacted last month that carries a potential death penalty for anyone who opposes or disrupts the elections.

Critics have already said the military-planned election will be neither free nor fair because there is no free media and most of the leaders of dissolved National League for Democracy party have been arrested.

The NLD won a landslide victory in the last election in 2020, but the military seized power in February 2021 before the party could begin its second five-year term.

Suu Kyi, 80, is serving prison sentences totaling 27 years after being convicted in a series of politically tainted prosecutions brought by the military.

The military justified its seizure of power by claiming massive fraud in the 2020 election, though there was no evidence of it. It has said an election was the primary goal of its takeover but had repeatedly pushed back the date.

The army takeover was met with widespread popular opposition, triggering armed resistance that intensified into a civil war.

The military lately has stepped up military activity, both on the ground and with airstrikes, to retake areas controlled by opposition forces, and airstrikes killing scores of civilians have been increasing.

Myanmar independent online media reported at least 24 deaths in the military's bombing Sunday of a hospital in the town of Mawchi, in Kayah state, also known as Karenni. The town is a center for wolfram and tungsten mining.

The provisional government formed by resistance groups in the state disclosed a higher toll Monday on Facebook, saying 32 civilians were killed, five were injured and several were still missing.

On Thursday, at least 21 people were killed by an airstrike on , the center of the Southeast Asian country’s gem-mining industry.

The army has not mentioned the strikes and usually says it only attacks legitimate targets of war, accusing the resistance forces of being terrorists.