"General Than Shwe, the leader of Myanmar?s military junta, recently confirmed that parliamentary elections will be held this year (2010). While no date has been set it seems likely that voting will take place in late spring or early summer.1 Although elections are generally a cause for optimism, voting in Myanmar poses many dangers. Two thirds of Myanmar?s population consists of ethnic Burmese with the other third consisting of 6 major ethnic groups and 135 ethnic subgroups. As a result of this ethnic diversity the country has been embroiled in ethnic conflict since the 1960s. Myanmar has numerous ceasefire groups, ethnic groups which signed ceasefire agreements with the junta in the 1980s and 90s, the majority of which have not been engaged in armed combat for several decades. Their goals have ranged from greater autonomy to independence. With the possibility of regime change looming, there is a chance, that these groups will renege on ceasefire agreements and take up arms in the hope of gaining influence and power should the military junta be defeated. More real is the danger that the junta will engage the groups militarily in order to quell any potential opposition in the forthcoming elections. This paper argues that while the elections present many dangers for the ceasefire groups, the extent of the peril very much depends on their size and strength. The dangers posed by the elections are likely to be the greatest for the larger ceasefire groups but these groups also have the greatest bargaining power and thus the possibility to achieve the greatest gains..."