Myanmar navy denies coup threats over vote fraud claims

Myanmar’s navy on Saturday denied its chief was threatening to stage a coup over complaints of election fraud, saying the media had misinterpreted his phrases.
Political rigidity within the Southeast Asian nation soared this previous week after a spokesman for the navy, which had dominated Myanmar for 5 a long time, mentioned a coup couldn’t be dominated out if its complaints of widespread fraud in November’s election had been ignored.
The commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, advised senior officers in a speech Wednesday that the structure could possibly be revoked if the legal guidelines weren’t being correctly enforced. Adding to the priority was the bizarre deployment of armoured automobiles within the streets of a number of giant cities.
Saturday’s assertion from the navy, generally known as the Tatmadaw, mentioned that “some organizations and media” wrote with out basis that the navy threatened to revoke the structure. The assertion mentioned Min Aung Hlaing’s speech was taken out of context, and was truly an statement to senior officer trainees on the character of the structure.
The ruling National League for Democracy get together captured 396 out of 476 seats within the November 8 election, permitting it to kind a authorities led by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi for an additional 5 years. The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party received solely 33 seats.
The navy has publicly complained a number of instances of electoral fraud and known as on the federal government and the Union Election Commission to overview the outcomes. It has mentioned it has discovered 8.6 million irregularities in voter lists in 314 townships that might have let voters forged a number of ballots or commit different “voting malpractice.”
The election fee mentioned there was no proof to help the fraud claims.
Parliament’s new session is ready to open Monday within the capital Naypyitaw.

The navy ran Myanmar for some 50 years earlier than starting a transitioning to democracy in 2010. The present structure ensures the nation’s generals keep appreciable affect within the nation’s affairs by guaranteeing them 1 / 4 of the seats in parliament and management of numerous key ministries.
Alarmed diplomatic missions in Myanmar reacted Friday to the navy’s statements by issuing a joint assertion urging calm.
“We urge the military, and all other parties in the country, to adhere to democratic norms, and we oppose any attempt to alter the outcome of the elections or impede Myanmar’s democratic transition,” mentioned the assertion issued by the EU, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Australia and others.
Peaceful protests have been held up to now few days by supporters of the navy and the Union Solidarity and Development Party. In Yangon, the nation’s greatest metropolis, about 1,000 demonstrators gathered Saturday subsequent to the well-known Shwedagon pagoda. The navy has not been alone in criticising the election.

Independent rights teams earlier than and after the polls criticized the disenfranchisement of Rohingya Muslims and the cancellation of the vote in some areas.
The election fee cited the risks of ongoing fight between authorities forces and ethnic minority guerrillas, however critics urged particular areas had been singled out for cancellation as a result of they had been sure to elect lawmakers from events hostile to Suu Kyi’s authorities.