Following last year’s coup, Myanmar’s military administration has prolonged emergency rule until 2023 as the country remains riven by internal conflict.
After deposing Aung Sung Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government, the junta seized power in Myanmar last year.
The military has pledged to arrange future elections that are “free and fair.”
On Monday, the government stated that it needed additional time to stabilize the country. The emergency regulation expands its ability to hold individuals.
There is widespread skepticism in Myanmar that the military will host multiparty elections or relinquish control to an elected administration.
In August of last year, General Min Aung Hlaing’s dictatorship prolonged emergency rule and, using the authority afforded by the order, he also appointed himself prime minister.
In remarks carried by state media, he also stated that the country’s electoral system should be modified by combining the first-past-the-post system, under which Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won the 2020 election decisively, with proportional representation.
He stated that the influence of “strong parties” has muted other political voices.
The Tatmadaw army launched the coup after alleged widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, in which the NLD received more than 83 percent of the vote.
According to international observers, voting was mainly free and fair.
The army arrested Ms. Suu Kyi and some of her party’s ministers. In June, Ms. Suu Kyi was transferred to solitary detention.
In generally peaceful demonstrations, millions of people demanded that the military surrender power. The soldiers fired live ammunition, water cannons, and rubber bullets in response.
According to the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP), security agents have murdered around 2,100 individuals. Thousands of political and civil society opponents are allegedly detained by the military.
Four democratic advocates were executed by the junta last week, marking the first executions in decades. Among them were the notable democracy activist Ko Jimmy and the former member of parliament and hip-hop singer Phyo Zeya Thaw.
Outside of Naypyidaw, opposition to the military regime is widespread, and there is an active guerrilla front known as the People’s Defence Force (PDF).
Gen Min Aung Hlaing invited for a second round of negotiations the leaders of Myanmar’s ethnic rebel armies, which have fought each other and the government for decades.
Several rebel organizations participated in the initial round of discussions in May, but those fighting alongside the PDF did not.
