Irrawaddy/AFP-Mar 12
Myanmar’s military junta has announced plans for elections in December or January—scheduling the first poll since it seized power in a bloody 2021 coup that plunged the country into civil war. But with the junta overseeing the vote, much of the country out of government hands, and the most prominent opposition figure—Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi—in jail, the prospects for democracy seem bleak. The junta seized power after making unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud, ousting Suu Kyi’s civilian government and ending a rare experiment with democracy. “We had to declare a state of emergency and temporarily take responsibility for the country,” Min Aung Hlaing said according to state media. “Therefore, we plan to hold a free and fair election soon, under the law.” Min Aung Hlaing said 53 parties had registered to run in the polls. “We have already decided to move toward a multiparty democratic system as requested by the people,” he said. But Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), which won a landslide the last time the country voted, will not be on the ballot. In 2023, the junta-stacked election commission announced the NLD would be dissolved for failing to re-register under a tough new military-drafted electoral law. Since the 2021 coup the junta has been battling an array of pro-democracy guerillas and fighters from ethnic minorities. Estimates of the extent of government control now vary widely. But a census to prepare for the vote said data could not be collected from an estimated 19 million of the country’s 51 million people, in part because of “significant security constraints”. Ethnic armed groups and pro-democracy fighters have vowed to block the election in their territory.
Analysts say they could attack voting centers or conduct offensives ahead of polling day. The country is in a state of emergency, which was extended by six months in January, and no exact date has been set. Read more at:
