The chief of Myanmar’s diplomatically isolated regime, Min Aung Hlaing, boasted at Friday’s meeting of the National Defense and Security Council (NDSC) that the international community fully supports the election he is organizing.
Despite having been invited to visit just two countries—Russia and China—during his four years in power, Min Aung Hlaing claimed at the meeting that he had explained the election preparations to leaders of governments and officials during his foreign trips. He also stated that he had briefed international diplomats and organizations visiting Myanmar about his preparations for the poll.
Loyally backing up Min Aung Hlaing’s claims, junta Foreign Minister Than Swe told the meeting the regime has diplomatic relations with various countries and has enhanced international cooperation in the military and civilian sectors. He added that the international community recognizes the need for a “Myanmar-owned and -led approach” to the crisis and claimed that countries engaging with Myanmar enthusiastically support the regime’s plans to hold a “free and fair election”.
While these “birds of a feather” were seconding each other inside Min Aung Hlaing’s office in Naypyitaw, however, they did not mention that the major democratic countries have downgraded diplomatic relations with and imposed sanctions against the regime since the 2021 coup. Far from engaging with the regime, they have only condemned it.
The foreign government leaders and officials Min Aung Hlaing mentioned boil down to a handful of his allies and some fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
It is true that China, India and Russia have long supported the junta’s poll plan.
In November, the regime boss had the opportunity to discuss his election preparations in person with the prime ministers of Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam when they all attended the Greater Mekong Subregion meeting in Kunming sponsored by China.
Min Aung Hlaing’s comment about “visitors to Naypyitaw” was a reference to his meeting with Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov in the second week of January, at which the regime boss explained his election preparations.
Following the visit, a delegation from the junta’s Union Election Commission (UEC) was dispatched to Belarus to observe the presidential election there last month.
Recently, junta Deputy Foreign Minister Lwin Oo briefed Brazilian Deputy Foreign Minister Maria Laura da Rocha on the junta’s preparations for the poll. Myanmar Ambassador to Russia Thit Linn Ohn also explained the junta’s election plans when Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met ambassadors from ASEAN in Moscow.
Lately, the regime has repeatedly highlighted its plan to invite international observers to monitor its poll.
In his remarks about a “Myanmar-owned and -led solution” Than Swe was apparently parroting Malaysian Foreign Ministry Secretary-General Amran Mohamed Zin.
“We’re recognizing a Myanmar-owned and -led solution to the crisis in Myanmar. However, since Myanmar is a member of ASEAN, the rest of ASEAN has a responsibility to assist Myanmar in finding a pathway to resolve the current situation,” he said at a press conference in the third week of January.
While Than Swe chose to interpret Amran’s statement as an expression of international support for the junta’s proposed poll, Malaysia, which chairs ASEAN this year, has in fact suggested that the regime should focus on ending hostilities instead of holding an election.
The truth is that for all the regime’s claims that the international community fully supports its poll, only a handful of countries including neighbors China, India and Thailand along with a few authoritarian countries like Russia, Belarus and Cambodia have expressed support.
Western countries including the US, and oppositions forces in Myanmar including the parallel National Unity Government and ethnic armed organizations, have dismissed the junta’s proposed poll as a bogus election that can be neither free nor fair.
Though Min Aung Hlaing has promised to hold the vote this year, he did not mention a specific date at the NDSC meeting, offering only a general statement that a fair election is impossible unless armed conflicts end in the country.
There were 90 political parties in Myanmar at the time of the February 2021 coup. After the regime introduced changes to the Political Parties Registration Law, 40 parties including the formerly ruling National League for Democracy and other major pro-democracy parties chose not to register with the junta’s UEC. The other 50, including the military’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party, and 18 new parties applied to register with the regime. The regime approved 55 of those 68 parties, later canceling two of those registrations, leaving 53 parties currently registered with the junta’s election body.
