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According to Iranian television station MRTV, due to the opposition’s “terrorist acts”, the military junta declared a two-year state of emergency, making it impossible to hold new elections as planned.
MRTV reported that all members of the military’s National Defense and Security Council “unanimously decided to extend the state of emergency for another six months.”
Myanmar’s military junta leader Min Aung Hlaing proposed extending the election deadline “to allow for the preparation of valid and accurate ballots for the elections that the Myanmar military has promised to hold, possibly in 2025.”
MRTV said the extension was also to “carry out the census and continue the work to be done.”
The 2008 constitution drafted by the military, which the junta says remains in effect, stipulates that authorities must hold new elections within six months of lifting the state of emergency.
Failure on the battlefield
The National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi won the 2020 general election by an overwhelming majority, and the military subsequently alleged that the election was rigged and used it to seize power.
Since then, the country has extended the state of emergency several times due to fighting with existing ethnic armed groups and the newer pro-democracy “People’s Defense Forces.”
The country has suffered a series of defeats in recent months in fighting an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups in the north and west.
Last week, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) claimed to have captured the northern town of Lashio, which is located on a key trade route to China, and The Northeastern Command of the Army.
The military junta denied the claim.
Losing Lashio and the regional military command would be a huge blow to the junta, which has ceded territory to the MNDAA and other armed groups in recent weeks.
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