Japan airs 'serious concern' over Myanmar's lifting of emergency
In a statement, Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya urged the junta-ruled Southeast Asian nation, which ended on Thursday the emergency that lasted for four and a half years, to make "moves toward political progress, such as the release of detained people and sincere dialogue among parties concerned."
If the general election is held without such progress, it could "only provoke further strong backlash from the people of Myanmar and make a peaceful resolution more difficult," Iwaya said.
He added that Japan is committed to seeking a "credible" cease-fire throughout Myanmar as well as providing "maximum support" for the efforts by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to resolve the situation.
Myanmar's military seized power in a February 2021 coup, later declaring a state of emergency. The Constitution stipulates that a general election must be held within six months of the lifting of an emergency declaration.
The junta aims to hold an election in December or January, with the National League for Democracy, the party of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, to be effectively excluded. Suu Kyi is among those who remain in detention.
The NLD won a landslide victory in the 2020 election but was dissolved by a junta-appointed electoral commission in 2023 after the military claimed the vote was rigged and declared it void.
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