Myanmar military guns for a poll win

The United Nations and the international community need to be wary not to be taken in by the Myanmar junta’s “democratic dance”. Struggling on the battlefield, the junta leader Min Aung Hlaing and his men-in green hope to sell the Myanmar public and the world on the idea of a national election in 2025 that will take international pressure off them as they “hand back” control to a “publicly elected government”.

Four years after his disastrous military coup, Myanmar Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing is gunning for a “democratic fig-leaf” that uses the military-written 2008 Constitution to allow the fielding of largely pro-military political parties in an election that will see the military step down to allow the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) to take up the reins of power. The 2008 Constitution would ensure the military retains a hold on the important levers of power – with 25 per cent of both houses of parliament and control over the ministries of Defence, Home Affairs and Border Affairs.