After the military coup in Myanmar, there are no new elections in the Southeast Asian country until August 2023. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing announced in a long televised address on Sunday that the state of emergency would be extended until then. The military regime also announced that Min Aung Hlaing has been appointed Prime Minister of a "transitional government". Exactly six months earlier, on February 1 of this year, the military had seized power and overthrew the government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. The state of emergency was initially supposed to last a year, then was extended to two and now to two and a half years.
In his 51-minute speech, the junta chief renewed his allegations against the overthrown government.
He accused Aung San Suu Kyi of abuse of power and alleged that the November 2020 general election had been rigged.
Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since the coup, had clearly won the election with her party “National League for Democracy” (NLD).
On Sunday there were again numerous national protests against the junta in Myanmar.
The resistance of the population has been suppressed with brutal severity in the past few months.
According to estimates by the prisoners' aid organization AAPP, 940 people have been killed so far.
Almost 7,000 were arrested.
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused the rulers in Myanmar of crimes against humanity.