The military regime is working on a special law to shield planned December elections from possible disruptions, according to political parties that have registered for the polls.
During a meeting last year, compliant political parties reportedly urged junta boss Min Aung Hlaing to take some kind of action to protect their candidates.
They highlighted security challenges amid the post-coup political turmoil and widespread armed conflict.
“It is better to have a law” to safeguard the polls, said Tint Swe, the vice-chairman of the Democratic Party.
“If there’s a law, then it’s up to the police and administrative bodies to enforce it. Elections are always a challenge,” he added. “But in the case of Myanmar, the challenge is huge as the State Administration Council is a government formed through a coup under the [2008] Constitution. They can’t provide security for individuals, so people are left to fend for themselves.”
The regime has repeatedly extended the state of emergency since staging a coup in 2021, but the latest extension is set to expire on July 31. Under the 2008 Constitution, the regime must then return power to the National Defense and Security Council—which also happens to be led by Min Aung Hlaing.
The council is tasked with forming an interim government to organize the poll. The junta is therefore likely to enact any election protection law before Aug. 1, Arakan Pioneer Party chair Dr. Aye Maung told pro-junta media.
The regime has repeatedly promised elections since seizing power in 2021, when it cited bogus allegations of fraud in the previous year’s general election as its justification.
It finally announced a date in March, saying the election would be held in phases through December and January, but has yet to provide details of constituencies or procedure.
Last month, the junta’s election body claimed that voting would go ahead in 267 out of the country’s 330 townships.
But the regime has lost control of most of the country outside the heartland and major cities. It has also admitted that a pre-election census was unable to count even 19 million out of Myanmar’s population of 51 million.
“The law will be intended for oppression rather than protection,” said one observer.
The regime led by dictator Than Shwe also adopted a law to protect the National Convention, which designed the 2008 Constitution. It was used to jail dissident politicians and others seen as anti-military.
Of the 77 parties that have registered with the junta’s election body to contest the December poll, 54 have been approved so far. Nine including the military’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party will contest nationally, and the 45 others in local elections.
The poll plan has been condemned by western countries, the civilian National Unity Government and other anti-regime groups, and pro-democracy parties as a sham to maintain the regime’s grip on power.
However, registered political parties—most of whom won few or no seats in 2020—insist that a fresh elections are the only way to end the turmoil that has gripped Myanmar since the coup.
