Myanmar junta chief confirms election to be held in December

Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing announced on Wednesday that his regime will soon be delivering on a long-delayed promise to hold a “multiparty general election” by the end of this year. Speaking at a meeting of his “State Administration Council” in Naypyitaw, he declared its dissolution and the formation of a new body ahead of an election set to take place in December. “The upcoming election will be held in December. Efforts will be made to enable all eligible voters to cast their ballots,” said Min Aung Hlaing, who will serve in the new “State Security and Peace Commission” as both acting president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. No date has been set for the polls, which the regime has vowed to hold since seizing power. The 69-year-old dictator is widely believed to harbour ambitions of becoming Myanmar’s elected president, a role that the military went to great lengths to deny to Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the civilian government that he ousted in February 2021. In his speech, he again accused Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party of voter fraud in the last election, held in November 2020. Impartial observers have generally dismissed these claims, which served as a pretext for the 2021 coup. Since then, the country has been in turmoil, as brutal military crackdowns on protesters spawned a nationwide armed resistance movement that has shown no signs of abating. According to United Nations estimates, the ongoing conflict has resulted in at least 6,500 civilian deaths, the displacement of more than 3.5 million people, and a humanitarian crisis affecting 22 million, or more than 40 percent of the country’s population. Despite this—and despite losing control over wide swathes of territory to an array of ethnic and pro-democracy armed groups—the regime has decided that it is finally in a position to cement its rule through staged elections. To this end, it introduced a new “Law on the Prevention of Disruption and Interference with Elections” this week, aimed at criminalising opposition to polls that few expect to be either free or fair. “Efforts must be made to prevent electoral fraud and to protect against those who wish to disrupt or sabotage the election,” Min Aung Hlaing reiterated in his speech on Wednesday. While junta opponents have vowed to do everything in their power to defy Min Aung Hlaing’s bid for legitimacy, he seemed confident that his regime was finally ready to turn a corner on the past four and a half years of unrelenting violence. “We have already passed the first chapter. Now we are starting the second chapter—we will write it well and beautifully,” he said.

Myanmar junta chief confirms election to be held in December

Min Aung Hlaing made the announcement at meeting of regime members in Naypyitaw on Wednesday

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