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Regime extends state of emergency in Myanmar on eve of 2021 military coup four-year anniversary

The regime extended the state of emergency for another six months on Friday, just one day ahead of the four-year anniversary of the 2021 military coup that ended a decade of democratic reforms launched by a previous military regime in 2010.

“More work remains to ensure a successful general election, particularly in achieving the stability and peace necessary for a free and fair election,” regime media reported. 

On Feb. 1, 2021, the military staged a coup and declared a state of emergency for one year. It ousted the elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government, and arrested its leaders State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, on claims of electoral fraud after the NLD won a landslide in the 2020 election. 

The regime has yet to provide any proof of electoral irregularities. International election observers stated that the 2020 election was free and fair.

“[Over] the last four years every day is [a] misery for the people of Myanmar. Over 6,230 innocent civilians were brutally killed by the military junta, over 3.5 million people [have been] displaced [and] almost 20 million people [are] in need of humanitarian assistance,” said Kyaw Moe Tun, Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the U.N., on Thursday. 

He appealed to the U.N. and the international community to reject the regime’s planned election and to stop selling weapons and aviation fuel to the military, which has killed over 2,000 civilians and injured another 3,000 by airstrikes, according to conflict research organization Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica. 

Since 2022, the regime National Defence and Security Council – chaired by regime leader Min Aung Hlaing – has extended the state of emergency six more times at six-month intervals. The regime claims that it needs more time to plan its elections, which are tentatively scheduled for November.

The 2008 military-drafted constitution states that once a state of emergency is lifted, the country is then required to hold a general election within the next six months.

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