A Man, A Plan, An Electoral Sham In Myanmar

2025-08-24 01:38:48

(MENAFN- Asia Times) A new name, fresh appointments and a minor reshuffle at the top - it's all part of the Myanmar junta's bid to prepare the nation and sell the outside world on its controversial general election plan for December.

The generals in Naypyitaw are counting on the election to confer the legitimacy they've lacked since seizing power in a February 2021 coup that ousted an elected government.

Critics have dismissed the planned vote as a junta ploy, branding it a“generals' election” rather than a genuine general election - a label that may prove more accurate than not.

Since the coup, the military has faced armed resistance across large parts of the country. While the anti-junta forces-both political and ethnic-may not control as much territory as they claim, it is clear that the upcoming elections can hardly be described as“nationwide” and will likely be dismissed by many as a sham.

But that may not concern the generals in Naypyitaw, and the stark reality is military rule in Myanmar is here to stay - in one form or another - as it has been since the men in green first seized power in a 1962 coup.

The country experienced a decade of relative openness, starting in 2011, with the introduction of limited freedoms; however, the generals never truly relinquished power. They remained in the background, protected by a pro-military constitution and ready to intervene when threatened, as they decisively did in the 2021 coup that overthrew a democratically elected government.

Regardless of how Myanmar's democratic forces and their international supporters view the upcoming election, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member, is almost certain to endorse the result as a positive step after more than four years of intensified civil conflict.

China is expected to accept the election outcome without reservation, while India, Bangladesh and perhaps Japan will likely consider even a flawed election preferable to no election at all. Australia, with its long history of trying to engage Myanmar's military regimes, may also feel that engaging whoever holds power in Naypyitaw is better than isolating them.

The State Administration Council (SAC), established after the 2021 coup, has been formally dissolved and replaced by a new governing body called the State Security and Peace Commission (SSPC).

This mirrors a previous rebranding in 1997, when the then-junta known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) adopted the more palatable State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) moniker.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the architect of the 2021 coup and instigator of the now near nationwide war, will remain interim president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

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