Myanmar junta extends state of emergency to support election preparations

Ruling military of Myanmar has expanded a state’s emergency for next six months, reported by state media on Friday, a day prior of the forth-year anniversary of a coup that plunged the nation into chaos following a decade of tentative democracy.

Myanmar has been blocked in a civil war started by the military’s overthrow of the elected civilian government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

The junta schedule current year to hold an election, which critics have derided as a sham to keep the generals in power through proxies.

“There are still more tasks to be done to hold the general election successfully. Especially for a free and fair election, stability and peace is still needed,” state- run stated by MRTV on its Telegram channel in declaring the extension of emergency rule.

No date has been set for the election but the junta is progressing with plans, despite struggling to run the country as it tries to fend off on severals fronts an armed rebellion with its roots in a youth-led uprising that was put down by the military with deadly force.`

Fighting has displaced an estimated three million people, with widespread food insecurity and a third of the population in need of humanitarian support, as per the United Nations, whose special envoy has called all sides to seek dialogue and move past their “zero-sum mentality”.

Despite the fighting, an economy in tatters and dozens of political parties banned or refusing to take part, the junta is determined to hold the election. Opponents of the military government plan to disrupt the ballot and have called other nations not to recognise the outcome, stating it will be held against the will of the people. (Reuters)