The military government of Myanmar announced today, on the second anniversary of the seizure of power, that it is extending the state of emergency that has been in place since the beginning of 2021.

The National Defense and Security Council (NDSC) extended the state of emergency for another six months with the assessment that the situation in the country has not yet normalized and that time is needed for the country to prepare for peaceful and stable elections.

The NDSC is constitutionally the ruling administrative body, but in fact it is now controlled only by the military.

The date of the elections has not yet been announced, although the head of the ruling military council, General Min Aung Hlaing, has hinted at them for August, but today’s announcement states that the elections will be “when the goals of the state of emergency are met”.

Martial law allows the military to take over all state functions, giving General Min Aung Hlaing legislative, judicial and executive powers.

The military statement indicated that it had failed to quell widespread opposition to military rule, with armed resistance and protests and civil disobedience. State media reported that the NDSC meeting discussed how opposition groups are seeking to seize power through “improper coercive means” including assassinations, bombings and destruction of state property.

Myanmar’s military, citing unconfirmed theft in parliamentary elections in late 2020, seized power in February 2021 by ousting the elected government of Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party then won a landslide victory and won a second term, defeating the opposition Solidarity Party. and development supported by the military.

Critics say that the upcoming elections, which are allegedly planned by the military, will be neither free nor fair because there is no free media, most of Suu Kyi’s party leadership has been arrested or has gone into hiding or been exiled, and Suu Kyi (77) is serving a prison sentence of up to 33 years since was convicted on the basis of a series of politically colored charges that the army

Last week, the military government made it difficult for opposition groups to pose a serious challenge to candidates supported by the military in the elections, with the law on the registration of political parties.

The National League for Democracy said last November that it would not accept or recognize the military-planned elections, which it described as “fake”, and more extreme opposition fighters are trying to prepare for elections disrupted by attacks on military government personnel.