Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has issued a full pardon to prominent ethnic Rakhine politician Dr. Aye Maung, chairman of the Arakan Front Party (AFP), removing legal barriers that disqualified him from contesting elections.
The amnesty order by the self-proclaimed acting president, dated Sept. 11, both lifts the remaining prison sentence and expunges the criminal record of Dr. Aye Maung, who was sentenced in 2019 to 20 years in prison for high treason and sedition.
The charges stemmed from a speech he delivered during an event to mark the fall of Arakanese Kingdom, which the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government deemed seditious.
Although Dr. Aye Maung, a hardline nationalist who is close to the current regime, was swiftly released from Yangon’s Insein Prison after the 2021 coup, he remained technically barred from running for a parliamentary seat under the election law.
Article 88 of the Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House) Election Law prohibits individuals convicted of high treason from running for office.
To override the restriction, Min Aung Hlaing invoked Article 204(b) of the 2008 Constitution, which grants the president authority to issue full pardons. The latest order also expunges the conviction itself, restoring Dr. Aye Maung’s eligibility to stand for election.
According to the official announcement, the pardon was granted in recognition of Dr. Aye Maung’s declared commitment to the “three main national causes”—non-disintegration of the Union, non-disintegration of national solidarity, and perpetuation of sovereignty—which form the core political ideology of the military.
The politician “also pledged to contribute to the building of a disciplined democracy and a federal union,” aligning with the junta’s stated political roadmap, it said.
The AFP duly re-registered to contest the upcoming elections in Rakhine—though there is little territory where the junta’s writ runs across the state, which is largely in the hands of the Arakan Army. The AA has denounced the election as a sham and said it will not allow it to proceed in its territory.
The Union Election Commission has announced that Phase 1 of the election will be held on Dec. 28 across 102 townships nationwide, including the three Rakhine townships of Sittwe, Kyaukphyu, and Manaung that remain under junta control. The AA has seized most rural parts of Sittwe and Kyaukphyu.
Speaking to the pro-regime Popular News Journal, Dr. Aye Maung said his party is preparing to contest “all constituencies in Rakhine State” for seats in all three legislatures in the upcoming election, with 64 candidates representing all 17 Rakhine townships.
He himself is running for a seat in the Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House) from a Sittwe constituency.
In 2010, Dr Aye Maung was elected to the Upper House. He lost his seat in the 2015 general election but was then elected to the Lower House representing Rakhine State’s Ann Township in the April 1, 2017 by-election.
In 2023, he visited Japan and lobbied lawmakers there to recognize and support the junta’s planned election.
A total of 61 political parties have registered with the regime-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC) to contest the upcoming election, with nine parties running nationwide and the remaining 52 in regional or state constituencies.
But this week the electoral body dissolved four parties including the regime-aligned National Democratic Force (NDF) for failing to meet registration criteria.
