Burma military denies threat of coup, blames media hysteria
NAYPYITAW, Burma — Burma’s military on Saturday denied that controversial statements by its chief were meant as a threat to stage a coup, claiming the media had misinterpreted his words.
Political tension in the Southeast Asian nation soared last week after a spokesman for the military said a coup could not be ruled out if military complaints of widespread voting fraud in November’s election were ignored.
The commander in chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, had told senior officers in a speech Wednesday that the constitution could be revoked if the laws were not properly enforced. Adding to the concern was the unusual deployment of armored vehicles in the streets of several large cities.
Saturday’s statement from the military, known, said that “some organizations and media” wrote without foundation when they said the military threatened to revoke the constitution. The statement said Hlaing’s speech was taken out of context, and was actually an observation to senior officer trainees on the nature of the constitution.
The ruling National League for Democracy party captured 396 out of 476 seats in the Nov. 8 election, allowing it to form a government led by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi for another five years. The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party won only 33 seats.
The military has publicly complained several times since the polls that there was electoral fraud and called on the government and the Union Election Commission to review the results. It has said it has found 8.6 million irregularities in voter lists in 314 townships that could have let voters cast several ballots or commit other “voting malpractice.”
The election commission said there was no evidence to support these claims.
Parliament’s new session is set to open Monday in the capital, Naypyitaw.
The military ran Burma for some 50 years before beginning a transitioning to democracy in 2010. The current constitution ensures the country’s generals maintain considerable influence in the country’s affairs by guaranteeing them a quarter of the seats in parliament and control of a number of key ministries.
Alarmed diplomatic missions in the country had reacted Friday to the military’s statements by issuing a joint statement urging calm.
“We urge the military, and all other parties in the country, to adhere to democratic norms, and we oppose any attempt to alter the outcome of the elections or impede Myanmar’s democratic transition,” said the statement issued by the EU, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Australia and others.
Burma is often called Myanmar, a name that military authorities adopted in 1989. Some nations, such as the United States and Britain, have refused to adopt the name change.
Peaceful protests have been held in the past few days by supporters of the military and the Union Solidarity and Development Party.