Myanmar’s junta has extended a state of emergency that’s been in place since it seized power in a coup two years ago by another six months, taking it beyond the constitutional limit and potentially delaying elections this year.
The regime had been expected to hand over power to a transitional government under its control after the expiry of the emergency rule on January 31. The move signals that a general election, which military chief Min Aung Hlaing had originally pledged would be held in August, will be delayed. Critics have already said the vote will be neither free nor fair.
“We need to take time to some extent to be able to successfully hold the general elections,” the junta leader said during a briefing broadcast on state television. “We will make sure those living in rural areas will be able to cast their votes.”
A constitutional court ruled that the extension was in line with the 2008 constitution. The junta’s announcement comes as conflict continues across the country, and a silent strike was held to mark two years since the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi was overthrown.
Adding to pressure on the military, the US and its allies, the UK, Canada and Australia imposed fresh sanctions on Myanmar, targeting junta members, energy officials and other individuals and companies linked to the regime.
“The United States remains firm in our position that the regime’s planned elections cannot be free or fair, not while the regime has killed, detained, or forced possible contenders to flee, nor while it continues to inflict brutal violence against its peaceful opponents,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Tuesday.
Since the coup, the junta has used increasingly brutal tactics to subdue its enemies, including the first executions in three decades. Despite this, it’s suffered large territorial losses to ethnic armed groups and opposition fighters. The economy has also collapsed, with the World Bank continuing to see “severely weakened” growth prospects.
More than 2,900 people have been killed and thousands more arrested in the military crackdown that followed the takeover. A rare United Nations Security Council resolution last month called for an end to violence and the release of all political prisoners.
“The international community must acknowledge, recognize, that whatever is going on in Myanmar, right now has no legal basis, no constitutional basis,” said Yanghee Lee, the UN’s former Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar during an online briefing Tuesday.
As a preliminary step in the electoral process, the military-appointed election body on Tuesday urged political parties to register under a 20-page law outlining complicated and rigorous rules. The new regulations will likely prevent Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy from taking part in any ballot. The party won the 2020 election by a landslide, despite the junta’s claim of voter fraud, which was dismissed by observers.
“In staging a coup, the military misread our people,” the shadow National Unity Government, which is aligned with Suu Kyi, said in a statement released Wednesday. “Our people are determined to build a Myanmar free of the military dictatorship which has oppressed our country for generations.”
