Myanmar’s junta on Monday cancelled the results of the 2020 elections, won by deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party. It defended its decision by saying that the elections were not “free and fair.”
“They (the NLD) attempted to take state power from non-NLD parties and candidates by misusing COVID-19 restrictions...(It) was not free, and fair-that is why the result of the 2020 election is cancelled,” The Straits Times quoted Thein Soe, the junta’s Election Commission Chairman, as saying. However, he did not clarify whether fresh polls would be conducted in the country. Previously, the junta stated that it would hold a new election within two years and threatened to dissolve the NLD.
According to the announcement, while inspecting voter lists and the casting of votes, the Commission found that the November 2020 general election involved more than 11 million cases of voter fraud. Myanmar’s former election commission earlier rejected these claims.
On February 1, Myanmar’s military seized control of the government for one year and placed many high-level politicians, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, under house arrest. The coup was attributed to the failure of the government to act on the military’s questionable claims of voter fraud in the election conducted last November, when the NLD won in a landslide victory with 83% votes. In contrast, the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party won just 33 of the 476 available seats. As a result, the military saw the NLD eroding its influence and sought to reinforce dominance via a coup. Following this, the judiciary charged Suu Kyi with half a dozen offences, including corruption, violating foreign trade laws, violating coronavirus measures, and inciting sedition. Moreover, party members of the NLD and Suu Kyi’s legal team said on multiple occasions that they have been unable to contact the leader since she was detained at her residence in Naypyitaw by the military.
More than 900 people have died in Myanmar due to the violence inflicted by the military on those opposing it. As a result of the massive civil unrest and a third coronavirus wave, the World Bank stated that Myanmar’s economy is expected to shrink by 18% in 2021.
Myanmar Junta Cancels 2020 Poll Results Won by Suu Kyi’s Party
Myanmar’s junta has cancelled the results of the 2020 elections, which deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi won via a landslide, claiming that they were not “free and fair.”
July 27, 2021
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