MiIitary coup in Myanmar

  • The Myanmar military grabbed power in a coup, ahead of a scheduled meeting of the country’s newly elected Parliament. 
  • Aung San Suu Kyi (won Nobel Peace Prize in 1991), who led the National League for Democracy (NLD) to a landslide win in the 2020 elections, and the de facto leader of the ousted government, has been detained.
  • President Win Myint has also been detained.
  • Tatmadaw, the Myanmar military also declared a one-year state of Emergency.
WHY THE COUP?
  • The military has alleged that the general elections held in November 2020 were full of “irregularities” and that therefore, the results — a sweep for NLD — are not valid. 
  • It has questioned the veracity of some 9 million votes cast in the election.
  • The military had demanded that the United Elections Commission (UEC) of Myanmar which oversees elections, or the government, or outgoing parliamentarians prove that the elections were free and fair. 
  • The demand was rejected.
MILITARY IN POLITICS
  • It was the military that drafted the 2008 Constitution, and put it to a questionable referendum in April that year. 
  • The NLD had boycotted the referendum, as well as the 2010 elections that were held under the Constitution.
  • Under the constitutional provisions, the military reserves for itself 25 per cent of seats in both Houses of Parliament.
HISTORY
  • On 2 March 1962, the military led by General Ne Win took control of Burma (former name od Myanmar) through a coup d'état.
  • Myanmar’s first constitution came into force on  Jan. 4, 1974, the 26th anniversary of the country’s independence.
  • It was suspended following a military coup on Sept. 18, 1988.
  • General elections held in 2015 were the first openly contested elections held in Myanmar since 1990. 
  • The results gave the NLD an absolute majority of seats in both chambers of the national parliament.

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