Latest news with #MyanmarElections
Khaleej Times
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
Myanmar junta chief confirms year-end election plan
Myanmar's junta chief said the country plans to hold elections in December and January, state media reported Thursday, pressing ahead with polls denounced as a sham by international monitors. The military deposed Myanmar's civilian government in a 2021 coup which sparked a many-sided civil war, but has promoted its election plans as a pathway to peace. With members of the former government locked away, opposition groups set to boycott the vote and huge tracts of the country controlled by anti-junta rebels, observers say a fair poll is impossible. State newspaper The Global New Light of Myanmar said junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, speaking at a conference in the capital Naypyidaw on Wednesday, "pledged that the election will be held in December this year and January next year". It is not clear whether the junta plans to hold the election in phases -- a potential sign it would struggle to guarantee security on a single nationwide polling day -- or whether the timetable includes a campaign period. On Wednesday, the United Nations' special rapporteur on the rights situation in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said the junta is "trying to create this mirage of an election exercise that will create a legitimate civilian government". "You cannot have an election when you imprison and torture and execute your opponents, when it is illegal to report the truth as a journalist, when it's illegal to speak out and criticise the junta," he told reporters in Geneva. Junta forces have suffered stinging territorial losses to pro-democracy guerrillas and powerful ethnic armed organisations in recent months. Military backing from China and Russia is letting it stave off defeat, analysts say, but huge areas of the country are set to be beyond the reach of any junta-organised democratic exercise. A junta census held last year to prepare for the poll admitted it could not collect data from an estimated 19 million of the country's 51 million people, in part because of "significant security constraints". "We are currently making the necessary preparations to hold the elections as widely and extensively as possible," Min Aung Hlaing said, according to a transcript of his conference speech in The Global New Light of Myanmar.
Malay Mail
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Malay Mail
Myanmar junta eyes December-January for elections despite war, boycotts
YANGON, June 26 — Myanmar's junta chief said the country plans to hold elections in December and January, state media reported Thursday, pressing ahead with polls denounced as a sham by international monitors. The military deposed Myanmar's civilian government in a 2021 coup which sparked a many-sided civil war, but has promoted its election plans as a pathway to peace. With members of the former government locked away, opposition groups set to boycott the vote and huge tracts of the country controlled by anti-junta rebels, observers say a fair poll is impossible. State newspaper The Global New Light of Myanmar said junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, speaking at a conference in the capital Naypyidaw on Wednesday, 'pledged that the election will be held in December this year and January next year'. It is not clear whether the junta plans to hold the election in phases — a potential sign it would struggle to guarantee security on a single nationwide polling day — or whether the timetable includes a campaign period. On Wednesday, the United Nations' special rapporteur on the rights situation in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said the junta is 'trying to create this mirage of an election exercise that will create a legitimate civilian government'. 'You cannot have an election when you imprison and torture and execute your opponents, when it is illegal to report the truth as a journalist, when it's illegal to speak out and criticise the junta,' he told reporters in Geneva. Junta forces have suffered stinging territorial losses to pro-democracy guerrillas and powerful ethnic armed organisations in recent months. Military backing from China and Russia is letting it stave off defeat, analysts say, but huge areas of the country are set to be beyond the reach of any junta-organised democratic exercise. A junta census held last year to prepare for the poll admitted it could not collect data from an estimated 19 million of the country's 51 million people, in part because of 'significant security constraints'. 'We are currently making the necessary preparations to hold the elections as widely and extensively as possible,' Min Aung Hlaing said, according to a transcript of his conference speech in The Global New Light of Myanmar. 'Most importantly, the elections must be free and fair,' he said. — AFP
CNA
10 hours ago
- Politics
- CNA
Myanmar junta chief confirms year-end election plan
YANGON: Myanmar's junta chief said the country plans to hold elections in December and January, state media reported on Thursday (Jun 26), pressing ahead with polls denounced as a sham by international monitors. The military deposed Myanmar's civilian government in a 2021 coup which sparked a many-sided civil war, but has promoted its election plans as a pathway to peace. With members of the former government locked away, opposition groups set to boycott the vote and huge tracts of the country controlled by anti-junta rebels, observers say a fair poll is impossible. State newspaper The Global New Light of Myanmar said junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, speaking at a conference in the capital Naypyidaw on Wednesday, "pledged that the election will be held in December this year and January next year". It is not clear whether the junta plans to hold the election in phases - a potential sign it would struggle to guarantee security on a single nationwide polling day - or whether the timetable includes a campaign period. On Wednesday, the United Nations' special rapporteur on the rights situation in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said the junta is "trying to create this mirage of an election exercise that will create a legitimate civilian government". "You cannot have an election when you imprison and torture and execute your opponents, when it is illegal to report the truth as a journalist, when it's illegal to speak out and criticise the junta," he told reporters in Geneva. Junta forces have suffered stinging territorial losses to pro-democracy guerrillas and powerful ethnic armed organisations in recent months. Military backing from China and Russia is letting it stave off defeat, analysts say, but huge areas of the country are set to be beyond the reach of any junta-organised democratic exercise. A junta census held last year to prepare for the poll admitted it could not collect data from an estimated 19 million of the country's 51 million people, in part because of "significant security constraints". "We are currently making the necessary preparations to hold the elections as widely and extensively as possible," Min Aung Hlaing said, according to a transcript of his conference speech in The Global New Light of Myanmar.
BBC News
08-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Myanmar's military government says it will hold elections this year
The head of Myanmar's military government has said the country will hold a national election in December 2025 or January Min Aung Hlaing said the elections would be "free and fair" - adding that 53 political parties had already submitted their lists to would be the first vote since his military junta seized power in a 2021 coup, arresting and imprisoning democratically-elected leader Aung San Sung Kyi and making unsubstantiated claims of fraud in the previous year's then, the country has been in turmoil, with a protest movement against the junta turning into an armed rebellion across the country. Critics have described the announcement as a sham designed to maintain the junta's power through proxy political Rights Watch, an NGO, told the BBC: "The junta is delusional if they think an election under the current circumstances will be considered remotely credible. "As a precursor to elections, they need to end the violence, release all those arbitrarily detained, and allow all political parties to register and participate instead of dissolving opposition parties."The military junta has carried out a violent crackdown on dissent since taking power, executing democracy activists and imprisoning journalists. But it has struggled to contain a widespread insurgency involving pro-democracy and ethnic rebel groups, and has limited control outside major UN, citing the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), said in January that at least 6,231 civilians have been killed by the military, including 1,144 women and 709 children, over the past four years. It warned in September that Myanmar was "sinking into an abyss of human suffering".
