Junta chief blames EAOs, anti-coup forces for disrupting election plans

By Admin 27 Mar 2024

DMG Newsroom
27 March 2024, Sittwe

Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing has accused some ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) and anti-regime forces of attempting to disrupt the elections.

Min Aung Hlaing, who is also Myanmar’s self-appointed prime minister, made the remarks in an address marking the 79th anniversary of Armed Forces Day on March 27.

“While we are working to make the elections successful, some EAOs and PDF [People’s Defence Force] terrorists are working to disrupt and delay the elections,” he said.

The junta is planning to hold the election in August using a system of proportional representation (PR) instead of the first-past-the-post (FPTP) model used in Myanmar’s previous three general elections held under the 2008 Constitution, he added.

The junta chief went on to say that the regime, in accordance with the will of the public, must take steps to strengthen the multi-party democratic system and hold the general election successfully.

Myanmar’s military ousted the National League for Democracy (NLD) government in a coup on February 1, 2021, alleging electoral fraud in the 2020 general election.

Myanmar’s military regime still plans to hold a fresh poll in constituencies where it is possible once stability is restored, he said in an interview with Russia’s Tass news agency in Yangon on March 18.

The military regime has repeatedly said that it will hold elections to rectify the alleged voting problems of 2020, but more than three years since the coup, the ability to hold elections remains uncertain due to the nationwide armed resistance.