YANGON: Myanmar’s junta on Wednesday extended a state of emergency by six months, again delaying polls the military has promised to hold as it battles opposition across the country.
The Southeast Asian country has been in turmoil since the February 2021 coup, which ended a 10-year experiment with democracy and sparked mass demonstrations and a crackdown on dissent.
Three years on, the junta is struggling to crush widespread armed opposition to its regime and recently suffered a string of stunning setbacks to an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups.
The junta said in a statement that acting president U Myint Swe announced the extension of the state of emergency for another six months at a meeting of the national defense and security council, according to AFP.
The statement added that the extension of the state of emergency — due to expire at midnight on Wednesday — was required to continue the process of combatting terrorists.
The council discussed preparations for holding multi-party polls and the holding of a national census at a meeting in the military-built capital Naypyidaw, it said, without providing details.
Emergency in Myanmar
The military declared a state of emergency when it toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in February 2021, citing unsubstantiated accusations of electoral fraud in 2020 polls her party won in a landslide.
It has extended the state of emergency multiple times since delaying fresh polls it has promised to hold.
Myanmar’s military-drafted 2008 constitution, which the junta has said is still in force, needs authorities to hold fresh polls within six months of a state of emergency being lifted.
