Trap-Irrawaddy-Sept 10
In announcing Dec. 28 as the first phase of nationwide elections, Myanmar’s military junta is attempting to lock the populace into a system designed less to enable transition than to suffocate dissent. The opposition, including the National Unity Government (NUG), has fallen largely silent, issuing little beyond recycled statements about “sham elections” as it becomes clear that the polls will proceed regardless of resistance. Meanwhile, the junta, rebranded as the State Security and Peace Commission (SSPC) on July 31, is banking on elections to secure a measure of international and regional recognition. Myanmar’s opposition now finds itself caught in a legal and political stranglehold. The junta’s planned election presents the NUG and resistance groups with an existential bind. To campaign openly against the polls risks exposing supporters to arrest, imprisonment or even execution under draconian provisions such as Articles 16 and 27 of the junta’s new Law on Protecting Multi-Party Democratic General Elections from Obstruction, Hindrance, and Destruction. Yet remaining silent risks ceding political space to the regime, allowing the junta to claim a new mandate and further eroding the NUG’s legitimacy. For ordinary citizens, no safe path exists: open resistance invites punishment, participation lends the regime a veneer of legitimacy, and silence risks complicity. On July 31, the SSPC ended Myanmar’s state of emergency after four years of extensions. It was hailed by some as a sign of political transition. Yet within hours, the junta’s National Defense and Security Council imposed martial law in 63 townships deemed opposition strongholds. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/opinion/guest-column/democracy-as-a-cage-myanmar-juntas-election-gambit-and-the-oppositions-self-trap.html
