Myanmar military extends state of emergency for another six months

As Myanmar struggles to maintain its increasingly fragile hold on power, with fighting raging on numerous fronts all over the country, the country’s military has declared its state of emergency for another six months.

The military-controlled National Defense and Security Council met on Friday to discuss the emergency rule, which was approved at a meeting in the capital Naypyidaw the day before a coup that sparked a famine in the nation after a decade of tentative democracy.

According to the statement, “All members of the National Defense and Security Council, including the commander in chief and the acting president, unanimously approved the extension of the state of emergency for another six months in accordance with Section 425 of the 2008 Constitution.”

“The general election must still be held successfully, there are still more tasks to be completed. Stability and peace are still necessary, according to state-run MRTV, which announced the extension of emergency rule on its Telegram channel.

Since February 1, 2021, the military has been in tumult in Myanmar, with Aung San Suu Kyi being detained and the National League for Democracy (NLD) government’s democratically elected leader taking control of the country.

Justifying the coup, the military claimed, without evidence, that the NLD had committed widespread voter fraud in the 2020 elections that it won by a landslide three months earlier.

After gaining control of the country, the military brutally oversaw peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations and battled ethnically armed groups and anti-military fighters that came out in response to the coup. It then imposed a year-long state of emergency.

The military’s Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing – who is also serving as the country’s self-appointed prime minister and president – had promised to hold elections by August 2023. However, he has repeatedly waited because the country’s growing armed rebellion is getting worse.

Since late 2023, Myanmar’s military has suffered a number of negative defeats in the north and west of the nation, according to the United States Institute of Peace, which has characterized the military’s crisis as having an “unprecedented scale.”

The military is expected to hold the postponed national elections in late 2025 despite the upheaval of growing internal and external pressure.

Opposition groups have pledged to violently disrupt the results of the election, which they decry as an attempt to legitimize the military-backed regime that came into power four years ago.

Under the military-drafted 2008 constitution, authorities are required to hold elections within six months of a state of emergency being lifted, which is slated for July 31.

Most indications point to elections taking place later this year, according to Richard Horsey, a Crisis Group adviser in Myanmar, with November traditionally the month of elections.

According to Horsey, “the National Defense and Security Council meeting is scheduled for July 31; however, there may be an ad hoc meeting that may be held before that date to possibly put an end to the state of emergency.” Then, according to the statement, “they have six months to organize the polls.”

Horsey added that the end of the state of emergency and the subsequent elections imply a “return to rule by the 2008 military-drafted constitution”, a move that would be welcomed by members of Myanmar’s military and its main backer, China.