Military takes over in Myanmar as senior politicians detained in country

Myanmar’s military has taken charge of the people for one year amid rumors de-facto chief Aung San Suu Kyi and many of the country’s senior politicians were detained.

A presenter on the country’s military-owned television service, Myawaddy, declared the takeover on Monday and cited a section of the military-drafted law that allows the armed forces to take charge in times of national emergency.

He said the precise reason for the takeover was in part due to the government’s failure to act on the military’s allegations of voter fraud in last November’s election and because it did not postpone the vote because of the coronavirus crisis.

“With the situation we see occurring now, we have to assume that the military is staging a coup,” Myo Nyunt, a spokesman for Myanmar’s governing National League for Democracy party .The televised announcement and the announcement of a state of emergency follow days of concern about the threat of a military coup — as well as denials one would be staged — and came on the day the country’s new Parliament gathering was to begin.

The takeover is a sharp repudiation of the partial yet significant step toward democracy Myanmar made in recent years following almost five decades of military rule and international isolation that began in 1962.
It would also be shocking fall from power for Suu Kyi, who led the democracy despite years under house detention.

The military’s actions have already received widespread international condemnation.

Monday’s parliamentary session was the first since last year’s election, as tension lingered over recent military comments that were widely seen as threatening a coup.

However, the military maintains its actions are legally justified, though Suu Kyi’s party spokesman, as well as many international observers, have said it is in effect a coup.