Myanmar military coup leader Min Aung Hlaing has announced plans to hold a general election in 2025 despite ongoing nationwide conflicts.
General Min Aung Hlaing made the statement during a meeting with civil servants and local leaders in Meiktila Town, in Mandalay Region, on 15 June 2024.
He said that preparations are underway to hold a population census in October 2024 before holding the election in 2025.
Currently, the junta is demonstrating the electronic voting machines that it intends to use in the elections to various political parties and selected members of the public.
Tin Tun Naing, the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) Minister of Planning, Finance, and Investment said that the junta is planning to hold elections in mid-2025. He also said that analysis by defence forces shows that the election will be held under a proportional representation (PR) system and the junta may combine constituencies where it is not in control.
At a press conference he said: “For example, in Chin State, they will combine townships like Thantlang, Hakha, Mindat, Matupi, and Paletwa into one large township, one large constituency. They will not conduct the election throughout the entire large township. Instead, they will only hold elections in the small controlled areas and then declare that these elections represent the entire large constituency, deceptively claiming victory.”
The junta is still facing ongoing fighting throughout the country and it has lost large areas of northern Shan State and Rakhine State and some areas of Kachin State.
AFP Reports; Myanmar authorities arrested 22 people for marking the birthday of imprisoned democracy figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi, local media reported on Wednesday
Police in Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city, arrested 22 people who had posted pictures of themselves wearing flowers in their hair -- long a signature Suu Kyi look -- Eleven Media reported, citing an anonymous official.
Other local media said around a dozen had been arrested in the central Myanmar city for wearing flowers or praying with them in public.
A prominent pro-junta Telegram account posted several photos claiming to show those arrested, including one showing five people with their legs placed in stocks.
Suu Kyi, who turned 79 on Wednesday, has been detained by the military since it toppled her government and seized power in 2021.
The coup and subsequent crackdown on dissent have sparked a widespread armed uprising that the military is struggling to crush.
The junta has rebuffed numerous requests by foreign leaders and diplomats to meet Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, who has reportedly suffered health problems during more than three years in detention.
Suu Kyi's only known encounter with a foreign envoy since the coup came in July last year, when then-Thai foreign minister Don Pramudwinai said he had met her for more than an hour.
Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year sentence imposed by a junta court after a trial condemned by rights groups as a sham to shut her out of politics.
Her son told AFP in February she was in "strong spirits" after receiving a letter from her -- their first communication since she was detained in the coup.
