Myanmar military commander Min Aung Hlaing reiterated his commitment to holding the elections. He also promised to work with a special envoy from the Organization of Asian Nations, ASEAN.
Min Aung Hlaing made these pledges in a televised address, six months after the army had regained full power. The military coup came in the wake of elections won by the party of government leader Aung San Suu Kyi. She was later arrested and has since been arrested on suspicion of corruption.
According to the military rulers, the elections at that time were fraudulent, and therefore the seizure of power was constitutional. The country’s election commission had decided there was no fraud, as international observers confirmed.
mass protests
After the coup, mass protests and strikes erupted in the country, and they were brutally crushed. Thousands of people were arrested, and according to the Organization of Political Prisoners, the military killed 939 people in the aftermath of the coup, a figure disputed by those in power, who said the soldiers were also killed.
In response to the repression, civilians in Myanmar have formed militias that launch regular attacks. They coexist or overlap with existing ethnic militias. Repression and fighting led to a large influx of refugees.
