The head of military government of Myanmar said that the country would organize a national election in December 2025 or January 2026.
General Min Aung Hlaing said that the elections would be “free and fair” – adding that 53 political parties had already submitted their lists to participate.
It would be the first vote since his military junta seized the power during a coup in 2021, arresting and imprisoning the democratically elected chief Aung San Sung Kyi and making allegations of fraud not supported during the elections of the previous year.
Since then, the country has been in the process of making troubles, with a protest movement against the junta which turned into an armed rebellion across the country.
Critics have described the announcement as an imposture designed to maintain the power of the junta through political proxy parties.
Human Rights Watch, an NGO, told the BBC: “The junta is delusional if they think that an election in current circumstances will be considered credible at a distance.
“As a pioneer in the elections, they must end violence, release all persons owned arbitrarily and allow all political parties to register and participate in the place of dissolving the opposition parties.”
The military junta has made a violent repression against dissent since he took power, performing militants of democracy and imprisoning journalists.
But he had trouble containing a generalized insurrection involving pro-democracy and ethnic groups, and has limited control outside of major cities.
The UN, citing the Association of Assistance for Political Prisoners (AAPP), said in January that at least 6,231 civilians had been killed by the army, including 1,144 women and 709 children, over the past four years.
He warned in September that Myanmar “flowed in an abyss of human suffering”.
