According to the media, Myanmar’s ruling junta has announced tough requirements for parties to contest an election this year, including a huge increase in their membership, a move that could sideline the military’s opponents and cement its grip on politics. According to the details, Myanmar Military General authored new electoral rules which demanded that political parties intending to compete nationally must have at least 100,000 members, up from 1,000 previously, must file their bid in the next 60 days or be de-registered as a party. The military junta claimed that it is fully committed to democracy and seized power to address the shortcomings of the past election, which was won by the ruling NLD.
Myanmar, a South Asian Nation suffered successive military coups and prolonged dictatorships over the past decades. Previously, the noble literate Burmese Politician Aung San Suu Kyi revitalize democracy in the country after a decades-long political movement through a quasi-civilian political system in 2016 but that endeavor lasted only for five years. Myanmar’s military overthrew the elected government on the charges of poll rigging and corruption and arrested political leaders and thousands of pro-democracy activists in February 2021. Myanmar witnessed political violence and armed resistance over the past two years anti-coup protests erupted across the country. Recently, the Military dictator unveiled his plan for an election in August during his speech on the 75th anniversary of the country’s independence.
Historically, Military Generals had always relied on politicians and bureaucrats to rule the states and run governmental affairs as Jingoists were usually well versed with the tact of attack by night and ambush on civil liberties and democracy. Earlier, the Burmese General ruled the nation for over five decades and bearly survive through a fractured democracy since 2016. Currently, Myanmar’s military Junta has perceived the idea of militarily controlled democracy through the introduction of tinted electoral laws to knock out opponent political parties including the Suu Kyi-led National National League for Democracy (NLD). The Military has also announced pardons for thousands of political prisoners and offered a partial commutation of the sentences of other inmates not convicted of criminal offenses, so the prevailing tense people-military ties could be normalized prior to the country’s transition to a newly crafted democracy. The whole exercise has been initiated to perpetuate military rule through a controlled mechanism with the participation of a retired general-led Union Solidarity and Development Party.
Presently, Myanmar is facing an unprecedented political, humanitarian, and socioeconomic crisis due to persistent residual needs that had been intensified from prevailing global economic and energy issues coupled with western sanctions against the Burmese Military Junta. According to the UN authorities, about 6.2 million Burmese need urgent economic assistance to meet their basic needs, while the ongoing violence had largely hurt the business and economic activities in the country. Realistically, unrestricted and persistent dominion is the first and foremost priority of today’s rulers in every other nation, who put aside the public needs and socioeconomic uplift for doors and philanthropists. As the rulers need a country to command instead of a nation to feed and serve.
