Bangkok, Mar 8 (EFE).- Myanmar’s military junta chief Min Aung Hlaing plans to call elections for December or January 2026, he said after a meeting in Minsk with Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko.
The military junta snatched power in a coup on Feb. 1, 2021, ousting an elected civilian government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since.
“We are planning to hold the election in December 2025 or at the earliest by January 2026,” said the general, according to the state Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Saturday.
It is the first time a specific timeframe has been mentioned by the junta for the holding of polls.
“Fifty-three political parties have already submitted their lists to participate in the election,” Min Aung Hlaing added, also inviting Belarusian observers to the country for the event.
Myanmar’s main opposition leaders have been imprisoned or in exile since the coup that ended a 10-year transition to democracy.
Min Aung Hlaing has repeatedly promised to call for elections in an attempt to gain legitimacy in the international community, which widely rejects his self-appointed authority.
Since the coup, the junta has extended its state of emergency seven times, which has given the armed forces full executive and legislative powers and prevents, at least until the last decree expires in July, the calling of elections.
The coup and the accompanying armed forces crackdown triggered a nationwide protest movement, prompting civilian pro-democracy groups to take up up arms alongside long-established rebel groups against the military.
Although the junta has been inviting the rebels to negotiate, with mediation from China, the majority reject it, while the National Unity Government, made up in part of previously elected lawmakers and which declares itself the legitimate power of Myanmar, opposes new polls, viewing them as a sham.
The unleashed violence has pushed thousands of Myanmar citizens out of their country, while tens of thousands more are internally displaced, while 6,389 people have been killed by security forces Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAAP). EFE
hp/tw
