Myanmar’s ruling military junta Wednesday extended by six months a state of emergency that was about to expire. The move comes ahead of the three-year anniverary of the coup that toppled the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
The military overthrew the government of de facto leader Suu Kyi on February 1, 2021, nearly three months after her National League for Democracy party won parliamentary elections in a landslide. The military cited unsubstantiated claims of widespread election fraud as its reason for toppling the civilian government and invalidating the results.
The coup triggered massive pro-democracy demonstrations that were initially crushed by a deadly crackdown by the military, but has since evolved into a conflict between the military and armed resistance forces allied with several rural ethnic rebel groups who have been fighting for decades for greater autonomy.
In a separate development, the ruling junta Wednesday also issued new rules that make it easier for political parties to register for national elections.
The new order cuts in half the minimum number of members a party must have on its roster from 100,000 to 50,000, and reduces the number of townships they must operate.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
