Myanmar’s military chief today mentioned the possibility of abrogating the constitution, raising strong concerns that the military could seize power in a coup d’état on the grounds of suspected election fraud.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling National Leaguefor Democracy party won a landslide victory in last November’s election, and the military has continued to claim in recent weeks that the election was marked by massive fraud. The military has continued to claim in recent weeks that there was massive fraud in that election.
The power-sharing agreement between the civilian government and military generals has been in flux since Myanmar held its first democratic elections in 2015 under a constitution proposed by the military government in 2008.
A military spokesman on 26 June refused to rule out a full-scale power grab by the military to resolve what he called a political crisis.
A speech by Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, arguably Myanmar’s most powerful man, published today in the Myawady Daily, the military’s mouthpiece, appeared to echo the same sentiment.
Min Aung Hlaing said the 2008 constitution is the “mother of all laws” and should be respected. But he also warned that under certain circumstances, it might be “necessary to abolish the constitution”.
The Burmese military has repeatedly asked the election commission to release the final electoral rolls for the November election, but has been unable to do so.
The military says it needs to get the electoral rolls to cross-reference whether there are votes. The military claims that there were 8.6 million cases of election fraud across Myanmar.
Myanmar ended nearly 50 years of military dictatorship in 2011, and last year’s election was only the second democratic election since then.
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