Myanmar may be unable to hold its next national election, the country’s junta commander said in comments published Monday, as the military tries to control increasing anti-government violence.
The military has made multiple promises to hold elections since seizing control in February 2021, but it has frequently declared a state of emergency as it confronts opponents around the nation.
Junta supremo Min Aung Hlaing stated that officials were now engaged on validating voter lists, emphasizing that polls could only be held once peace was restored.
“If the state is peaceful and stable, we have a plan to hold the election in relevant sections as much as we can, even if the election is not held nationwide under the law,” he said in an interview with Russia’s TASS news agency, reprinted in English in Myanmar’s state-owned Global New Light newspaper.
The generals justified their coup by making unfounded charges about electoral fraud the 2020 elections, which were overwhelmingly won by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
Last year, the junta-stacked election commission abolished the first-past-the-post electoral system, which had helped the NLD win big.
Instead, a proportional representation system will be implemented.
Three years after seizing power, the junta is striving to eradicate extensive armed opposition to its authority, fighting pro-democracy and older ethnic minority armed groups across much of the nation.