Myanmar’s military on Thursday nominally transferred power to a civil-led interim government ahead of the planned election, with the junta chief taking charge of the war-torn country and his other role as representative president.
The announcement in state media said there was an order that gave the military power after the 2021 coup was cancelled and a caregiver government was established along with a special committee to oversee the election.
The move shows that the current situation in Myanmar is unchanged, with coup leader Min Aung Frening holding all the key levers of power as acting president while still retaining his position as chief of the military.
Government spokesman Zaw Min Tun said a national emergency has been in effect since the coup, which is due to expire Thursday after seven extensions.
“The interim president and commander said the last six months are the time to prepare and host elections,” he told state media.
Myanmar is in chaos as Aung San Su Kyi’s coup against the elected civil government plunged the Southeast Asian state into civil war, with the military fighting to contain the rebellion, accused of the widespread atrocities it denied.
The election has been rejected by the Western government as a fake that will settle the general’s power, and is expected to be controlled by military commissioners, with opposition groups banning the run or refusing to participate.
David Matheson, an analyst focusing on independent Myanmar, said the change in power is cosmetics and the officials remain abusive and oppressive.
“They just rearrange the same work and call the regime a new name,” he said. “This is part of the election preparations that we don’t know much about.”
The extent of the impact of the civil war on planned elections remains unknown. To create a voter role, the junta conducted a national census last year, but only in 145 of Myanmar’s 330 townships.
At the defense officials meeting on Thursday, Min Ang Fräning said votes in the elections will be held in different regions in December and January due to security concerns, state-run MRTV reported in a breaking news report.
Martial law and emergency situations will be imposed on more than 60 townships in nine regions and states due to threats of violence and rebellion, many in border regions where the military faces unprecedented resistance from rebel groups.
China’s foreign ministry on Thursday said it “supports development pathways in line with the national situation in Myanmar and the steady progress of Myanmar’s domestic political agenda.”
The military has killed more than 6,000 people, arbitrarily detained more than 20,000 since the coup, and over 3.5 million people have been evacuated internally, the pardoning state report said in January.
The Myanmar military has dismissed allegations of abuse as Western misinformation.
The 2021 coup was justified as a necessary intervention after saying it was a widespread scam in the election three months ago.
Election Monitor found no evidence of fraud that would have altered the outcome.
