FAKE ELECTIONS FAKE STATE
Yangon (AFP) – Myanmar's junta ended its state of emergency on Thursday, ramping up plans for a December election that opposition groups pledged to boycott and monitors said will be used to consolidate the military's power.
Issued on: 31/07/2025 - RFI
Analysts predict junta chief Min Aung Hlaing will keep a role as either president or armed forces chief following the election © STR / AFP/File
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The military declared a state of emergency in February 2021 as it deposed the civilian government of democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a many-sided civil war which has claimed thousands of lives.
The order gave junta chief Min Aung Hlaing supreme power over the legislature, executive and judiciary -- but he has recently touted elections as an off-ramp to the conflict.
Opposition groups including ex-lawmakers ousted in the coup have pledged to snub the poll, which a UN expert last month dismissed as "a fraud" designed to legitimise the military's continuing rule.
The junta seized power making unsubstantiated claims of fraud in a 2020 election Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won in a landslide, and she remains jailed alongside their other top leaders.
"The state of emergency is abolished today in order for the country to hold elections on the path to a multi-party democracy," junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said in a voice message shared with reporters.
"Elections will be held within six months," he added.
An order signed by Min Aung Hlaing cancelled the emergency rule which handed power to him as the armed forces chief, returning it to the head of state.
However Min Aung Hlaing also occupies that office as the country's acting president.
"We have already passed the first chapter," Min Aung Hlaing said in a speech in Naypyidaw reported in state newspaper The Global New Light of Myanmar on Thursday.
"Now, we are starting the second chapter," he told members of the junta's administration council at what the newspaper called an "honorary ceremony" for its members.
No date set
Analysts predict that following the election he will keep a role as either president or armed forces chief and consolidate power in that office, thereby extending his tenure as de facto ruler.
A flurry of notices announced a new "Union Government" had been formed alongside a "National Security and Peace Commission" to oversee defence and the election process, both led by Min Aung Hlaing.
"The upcoming election will be held this December, and efforts will be made to enable all eligible voters to cast their ballots," The Global New Light of Myanmar reported, paraphrasing another part of his speech.
A foreign ministry spokesman of junta ally China said Beijing supports "Myanmar's various parties and factions properly resolving differences through political means under the constitutional and legal framework".
No exact date for the poll has been announced by the junta, but political parties are being registered while training sessions on electronic voting machines have already taken place.
The military government said Wednesday it enacted a new law dictating prison sentences of up to 10 years for speech or protests aiming to "destroy a part of the electoral process".
A census held last year as preparation for the election estimated it failed to collect data from 19 million of the country's 51 million people, provisional results said.
The results cited "significant security constraints" as one reason for the shortfall -- giving a sign of how limited the reach of the election may be amid the civil war.
Analysts have predicted rebels will stage offensives around the election as a sign of their opposition.
But this month the junta began offering cash rewards to those willing to lay down their arms and "return to the legal fold" ahead of the vote.
© 2025 AFP
Yangon (AFP) – Myanmar's junta ended its state of emergency on Thursday, ramping up plans for a December election that opposition groups pledged to boycott and monitors said will be used to consolidate the military's power.
Issued on: 31/07/2025 - RFI
Analysts predict junta chief Min Aung Hlaing will keep a role as either president or armed forces chief following the election © STR / AFP/FileAdvertising
The military declared a state of emergency in February 2021 as it deposed the civilian government of democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a many-sided civil war which has claimed thousands of lives.
The order gave junta chief Min Aung Hlaing supreme power over the legislature, executive and judiciary -- but he has recently touted elections as an off-ramp to the conflict.
Opposition groups including ex-lawmakers ousted in the coup have pledged to snub the poll, which a UN expert last month dismissed as "a fraud" designed to legitimise the military's continuing rule.
The junta seized power making unsubstantiated claims of fraud in a 2020 election Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won in a landslide, and she remains jailed alongside their other top leaders.
"The state of emergency is abolished today in order for the country to hold elections on the path to a multi-party democracy," junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said in a voice message shared with reporters.
"Elections will be held within six months," he added.
An order signed by Min Aung Hlaing cancelled the emergency rule which handed power to him as the armed forces chief, returning it to the head of state.
However Min Aung Hlaing also occupies that office as the country's acting president.
"We have already passed the first chapter," Min Aung Hlaing said in a speech in Naypyidaw reported in state newspaper The Global New Light of Myanmar on Thursday.
"Now, we are starting the second chapter," he told members of the junta's administration council at what the newspaper called an "honorary ceremony" for its members.
No date set
Analysts predict that following the election he will keep a role as either president or armed forces chief and consolidate power in that office, thereby extending his tenure as de facto ruler.
A flurry of notices announced a new "Union Government" had been formed alongside a "National Security and Peace Commission" to oversee defence and the election process, both led by Min Aung Hlaing.
"The upcoming election will be held this December, and efforts will be made to enable all eligible voters to cast their ballots," The Global New Light of Myanmar reported, paraphrasing another part of his speech.
A foreign ministry spokesman of junta ally China said Beijing supports "Myanmar's various parties and factions properly resolving differences through political means under the constitutional and legal framework".
No exact date for the poll has been announced by the junta, but political parties are being registered while training sessions on electronic voting machines have already taken place.
The military government said Wednesday it enacted a new law dictating prison sentences of up to 10 years for speech or protests aiming to "destroy a part of the electoral process".
A census held last year as preparation for the election estimated it failed to collect data from 19 million of the country's 51 million people, provisional results said.
The results cited "significant security constraints" as one reason for the shortfall -- giving a sign of how limited the reach of the election may be amid the civil war.
Analysts have predicted rebels will stage offensives around the election as a sign of their opposition.
But this month the junta began offering cash rewards to those willing to lay down their arms and "return to the legal fold" ahead of the vote.
© 2025 AFP
Myanmar junta hands over power to interim civilian govt, chief remains acting President
An announcement in state media said a decree that granted power to the military after its 2021 coup had been cancelled
Reuters
Myanmar's military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing
A nationwide state of emergency in place since the coup, which was due to expire on Thursday after seven extensions, has now been lifted, said Zaw Min Tun, a government spokesperson.
"The interim president and commander in chief said this upcoming six months are the time to prepare and host the election," he told state media.
Myanmar has been in chaos since the coup against Aung San Suu Kyi's elected civilian government plunged the Southeast Asian nation into civil war, with the military fighting to contain a rebellion and accused of widespread atrocities, which it denies.
The election has been dismissed by Western governments as a sham to entrench the generals' power and is expected to be dominated by proxies of the military, with opposition groups either barred from running or refusing to take part.
David Mathieson, an independent Myanmar-focused analyst, said the change in power was cosmetic and those in charge would continue to be abusive and repressive.
"They are just rearranging the same pieces and calling the regime a new name," he said. "This is part of preparations for an election which we don't know much about."
War raging
The extent of the civil war's impact on the planned election remains unclear. In an effort to create voter rolls, the junta held a nationwide census last year but was only able to conduct it in 145 out of Myanmar's 330 townships - reflecting its lack of control over swathes of the country.
At a meeting of defence officials on Thursday, Min Aung Hlaing said voting in the election would be held in different areas in December and January due to security concerns, state-run MRTV reported in its nightly news bulletin.
Martial law and a state of emergency would be imposed in more than 60 townships across nine regions and states due to the threat of violence and insurgency, the report said, many in border areas where the military is facing unprecedented resistance from rebel groups.
China's foreign ministry on Thursday said it "supports Myanmar's development path in line with its national conditions and Myanmar's steady advancement of its domestic political agenda".
The military has killed more than 6,000 people and arbitrarily detained over 20,000 since the coup, with more than 3.5 million people internally displaced, an Amnesty International report said in January.
Myanmar's military has dismissed allegations of abuses as Western disinformation.
It justified its 2021 coup as a necessary intervention following what it said was widespread fraud in an election three months earlier that was won decisively by Suu Kyi's now defunct ruling party.
Election monitors found no evidence of fraud that would have changed the outcome.
An announcement in state media said a decree that granted power to the military after its 2021 coup had been cancelled
Reuters
Published 31.07.25
Myanmar's military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing
Reuters
Myanmar's military on Thursday nominally transferred power to a civilian-led interim government ahead of a planned election, with the junta chief remaining in charge of the war-torn country in his other role as acting president.
An announcement in state media said a decree that granted power to the military after its 2021 coup had been cancelled and a caretaker administration had been formed alongside a special commission to oversee the election.
The move signals no change to the status quo in Myanmar, with coup leader Min Aung Hlaing holding on to all major levers of power as acting president while retaining his position as chief of the armed forces.
Myanmar's military on Thursday nominally transferred power to a civilian-led interim government ahead of a planned election, with the junta chief remaining in charge of the war-torn country in his other role as acting president.
An announcement in state media said a decree that granted power to the military after its 2021 coup had been cancelled and a caretaker administration had been formed alongside a special commission to oversee the election.
The move signals no change to the status quo in Myanmar, with coup leader Min Aung Hlaing holding on to all major levers of power as acting president while retaining his position as chief of the armed forces.
A nationwide state of emergency in place since the coup, which was due to expire on Thursday after seven extensions, has now been lifted, said Zaw Min Tun, a government spokesperson.
"The interim president and commander in chief said this upcoming six months are the time to prepare and host the election," he told state media.
Myanmar has been in chaos since the coup against Aung San Suu Kyi's elected civilian government plunged the Southeast Asian nation into civil war, with the military fighting to contain a rebellion and accused of widespread atrocities, which it denies.
The election has been dismissed by Western governments as a sham to entrench the generals' power and is expected to be dominated by proxies of the military, with opposition groups either barred from running or refusing to take part.
David Mathieson, an independent Myanmar-focused analyst, said the change in power was cosmetic and those in charge would continue to be abusive and repressive.
"They are just rearranging the same pieces and calling the regime a new name," he said. "This is part of preparations for an election which we don't know much about."
War raging
The extent of the civil war's impact on the planned election remains unclear. In an effort to create voter rolls, the junta held a nationwide census last year but was only able to conduct it in 145 out of Myanmar's 330 townships - reflecting its lack of control over swathes of the country.
At a meeting of defence officials on Thursday, Min Aung Hlaing said voting in the election would be held in different areas in December and January due to security concerns, state-run MRTV reported in its nightly news bulletin.
Martial law and a state of emergency would be imposed in more than 60 townships across nine regions and states due to the threat of violence and insurgency, the report said, many in border areas where the military is facing unprecedented resistance from rebel groups.
China's foreign ministry on Thursday said it "supports Myanmar's development path in line with its national conditions and Myanmar's steady advancement of its domestic political agenda".
The military has killed more than 6,000 people and arbitrarily detained over 20,000 since the coup, with more than 3.5 million people internally displaced, an Amnesty International report said in January.
Myanmar's military has dismissed allegations of abuses as Western disinformation.
It justified its 2021 coup as a necessary intervention following what it said was widespread fraud in an election three months earlier that was won decisively by Suu Kyi's now defunct ruling party.
Election monitors found no evidence of fraud that would have changed the outcome.
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