As Myanmar’s junta-appointed election commission accelerates preparations for polls scheduled in December and January, Arakan Army (AA) commander Tun Myat Naing said the regime cannot hope to win the public’s trust unless it releases detained democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Irrawaddy, the AA chief remarked: “If they truly want to hold a genuine election and gain the people’s trust, they should release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is now over 80 years old. The regime may not restore public trust even if it does so, but it should free her if it wants its poll to be at all presentable. Without doing this, how can they expect legitimacy or recognition?”
The AA leader’s comment came as junta boss Min Aung Hlaing pushes ahead with elections widely dismissed as a ploy to legitimize his power. The military staged a coup in February 2021, citing unproven fraud in the 2020 general election, which the National League for Democracy (NLD) won by a landslide. State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and senior ministers were arrested and remain in detention.
The junta later annulled the 2020 results and, in March 2023, dissolved the NLD after it refused to reregister under new electoral laws. The upcoming polls will feature 57 parties, most of them aligned with or supportive of the military, including the junta’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
The junta’s election has been rejected by Western democracies and many inside Myanmar as a sham designed to entrench military rule—a view echoed by Tun Myat Naing.
Relations between the AA and the NLD have been tense in the past—particularly after the NLD government labeled the AA a terrorist group and an unlawful association in March 2020 following the group’s attacks on Myanmar military and police bases in Rakhine. Despite this, the AA chief stressed that the national interest must come before personal or political grievances.
“We must set aside our personal feelings, and do what should be done in the interests of the nation,” he said.
The regime is using elections dishonestly to earn legitimacy for its rule by organizing a vote that excludes those who have a rightful place in the process, he said.
The AA controls 14 of Rakhine State’s 17 townships and has declared it will not allow junta-organized elections in its territory. The junta’s election commission has already announced that voting will not take place in 10 Rakhine townships, though it still plans to hold polls in seven others, only three of which—Sittwe, Kyaukphyu and Manaung—remain under regime control. This indicates it eventually plans to hold voting in areas such as Taungup, Gwa, Thandwe and Ann that are currently still under AA control. The election is scheduled to be held in phases, the first on Dec. 28.
While much of the international community has rejected the junta’s planned polls as neither free nor fair, neighboring countries including China, India, Thailand and Cambodia, as well as more distant allies Russia and Belarus, have signaled support for the process.
