Myanmar's junta on Wednesday extended a state of emergency for six months, once again delaying a new vote it had promised to hold as it battles opposition to its coup.
The Southeast Asian country has been in turmoil since a coup in February 2021 ended a 10-year democratic experiment and sparked mass protests and a crackdown on dissidents. Three and a half years later, the junta is still struggling to crush widespread armed opposition.
The junta has suffered major defeats recently against an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups. It has been unable to hold new elections as planned, following a two-year state of emergency “due to terrorist acts” by its opponents, MRTV television reported.
The full members of the junta's National Defense and Security Council “unanimously decided to extend the state of emergency for another six months,” MRTV said.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing proposed the extension to “prepare valid and accurate ballots” for elections the junta has promised to hold, possibly in 2025.
The extension was also needed to “carry out a population census and to continue the work that needs to be done,” MRTV said. Under the 2008 military-drafted constitution, which the junta says is still in force, authorities are required to hold new elections within six months of the emergency being lifted.
Defeat on the battlefield The military seized power after making baseless allegations of fraud in the 2020 election, which was won by a landslide by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).
Myanmar has extended a state of emergency several times, as the country battles ethnic minority armed groups and a new pro-democracy “People’s Defence Forces” group.
In recent months, the country has suffered a series of battlefield defeats against an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups in the country’s north and west. The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, MNDAA, last week claimed to have captured the northern city of Lashio, which lies on a major trade route to China and is the headquarters of the military’s northeastern command. (ps/lt)
