Myanmar junta hits back at criticism of military-run polls

Yangon - Myanmar’s military government lashed back on Dec 14 at international criticism that branded

upcoming elections

undemocratic, but also hinted that junta chief Min Aung Hlaing could have a leadership role in the post-election government.

The junta

snatched power in a 2021 coup

, toppling a civilian government, jailing its leaders and triggering a vicious civil war that has consumed the country.

The military government is overseeing phased polls that are set to start on Dec 28, pledging a return to democracy and a chance to end the fighting.

However, international democracy monitors have described the vote as an exercise in rebranding military rule, while the United Nations, Britain and Thailand have said it will be neither free nor fair.

“The election is being held for Myanmar,” junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told a rare news conference in Yangon. “It is not being held for the international community.”

“Those who want to criticise may criticise,” he said. “We, however, will proceed to achieve our original objective, which is to return to a multi-party democratic system.”

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing declared martial law and has governed the country as military chief since the coup in February 2021.

He ended emergency rule this summer, passing power to the presidency in the run-up to the long-promised polls. He also occupies that office as acting president.

Asked whether the military chief could have political aspirations after the vote – expected to take around one month – Mr Zaw Min Tun cited his “experience in state duties”.

“There are statements he has made in the past saying that if the state assigns him a duty, he will always apply his experience for the country,” he said.

Rebels challenging military rule have pledged to block the election from the vast territories they control, although the junta has waged a withering pre-vote offensive.

The military has

enforced harsh new legislation

in the ground it still holds, punishing protest or speech against the election with up to a decade in prison.

The National League for Democracy party, which won the last polls in 2020 by a landslide, has been dissolved and its leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, remains in junta detention. AFP