Myanmar extends emergency by 6 months

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The Military govt of Myanmar has extended the state of emergency by 6 months till February 2023. Head of the military government General Min Aung Hlaing said on Sunday that elections could be held only when the country was ‘stable and peaceful’. General Hlaing requested the National Defence and Security Council to ‘allow him to serve for an additional 6 months’, which was approved by the acting president Myint Swe. The state of emergency in Myanmar was first declared in February 2021.

General Hlaing said that the Union Election Commission will be reconstituted and its mandated tasks, including the scrutiny of voter lists, shall be implemented in accordance with the law. The Election Commission has organised four meetings with the political parties during the last 18 months for the review of the Election Law and election system.

The military deposed the elected government headed by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi February last year, immediately after the national elections in which Suu Kyi’s party National League for Democracy (NLD) won a massive majority. Accusing Aung San Suu kyi of mismanagement and fraud in the elections, the military government had promised to hold elections within a year.

However, it later extended the time for lifting the emergency. In his broadcast, head of the military government Gen. Hlaing did not give any specific date for holding elections.