Pro-democracy groups denounce Myanmar military’s election plan

By Nava Thakuria*

The pro-democracy groups of Myanmar have denounced the plan of military dictators to conduct the elections probably next year arguing that 27.5 million voters had already given their mandate in the November 2020 general elections to the democratic party to rule the Southeast Asian nation without the intervention of militaries.

The pro-democracy anti-junta outfits stated that the current batch of military rulers was planning to hold a “sham election as one of its hallmark attempts” to claim a democratic mandate, gain international legitimacy, and normalize its relations with foreign countries.

“The military junta, which is plunging the country into dire human rights, humanitarian, and economic catastrophe, lacks any legitimacy to conduct a national election,” said Progressive Voice, a participatory rights-based policy research and advocacy organization of Myanmar, adding that the last national polls showcased the unwavering commitment of its nationals for a democratic future without military control, but the military dictator Min Aung Hlaing-led a coup on 1 February 2021 to oust the democratically elected Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in Naypietaw.

“Since the military coup, the Myanmar people have united and coordinated a resistance movement against the military junta. They have collectively prevented the junta from seizing effective control over the country. Today, because of the people’s resistance, the junta lacks administrative control of major parts of Myanmar. Across the country, resistance groups have been building Myanmar’s federal future from the ground up with inclusive, people-centric governance,” said Khin Ohmar, chairperson of Progressive Voice, asserting that the illegal and murderous junta has no legitimacy to organize and conduct an election.

“The international community must not fall prey to the junta’s desperate grasp at legitimacy that would only be weaponized to misrepresent the grave reality of Myanmar’s multi-faceted crisis and prolong the military junta’s decades-long oppression of the people,” stated Ohmar, while talking to this writer from an undisclosed location of Myanmar. She also insisted that the international community “must denounce the military junta’s sham election plans, and instead actively support the people of Myanmar in their pursuit of genuine federal democracy and sustainable peace”.

Observers say the junta’s election plans go hand in hand with its relentless violence against unarmed civilians across Myanmar. Over the last three years, the junta imposed ‘illegal draconian laws’ to terrorise the opponents, disbanded many political parties (including the Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy) and also guaranteed its success in the polls.

In the eyes of pro-democracy activists, the National Unity Government, an interim government formed by the elected lawmakers, who were not allowed to function, seemingly holds the public mandate to work with ethnic councils and various resistance organizations to establish a ‘genuine’ federal democracy in Myanmar.

*Senior journalist