Junta announces election next year in Myanmar

Last Updated on June 19, 2024 8:48 am

Parliament elections will be held in Myanmar next year i.e. 2025. General Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the ruling junta in the country, made the announcement. News of Irrawaddy

He attended an army function in Meiktila, Myanmar’s second largest city, Mandalay, as the chief guest. Speaking on the occasion, he said that the current interim government has decided to hold national elections in 2025.

Although he mentioned the year, he did not say anything clear about the election in which month.

Incidentally, the last election in Myanmar was held on November 8, 2020. The National League for Democracy (NLD), led by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, won the election and formed the government.

But the army seized Myanmar’s national power through a coup on November 1, 2021, alleging election rigging. The coup was led by then army chief General Min Aung Hlaing; He also became the head of the military government formed after the coup.

Soon after the coup, Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy leaders and MPs were imprisoned. Most of her party leaders, including Suu Kyi, are still in prison. Last year, Suu Kyi’s party, the NLD, was declared dissolved by the military government.

General Min Aung Hlaing has announced the election several times before. But neither he nor the military government led by him kept the promise. Last year in July last year, Hlaing said, October 2023 will be in Myanmar.

There are doubts whether he will be able to keep his promise this time as well. Because since last December, various armed political groups against the junta have become widely active in various provinces of Myanmar. In the face of attacks by these groups, the army is forced to retreat in many areas.

According to international security analysts, various anti-junta armed groups currently control at least one-fifth of Myanmar’s total territory.