Myanmar general repeats pledge of new multiparty election

Myanmar’s military leader said on Monday his junta would hold a new election and hand power to the winner as tens of thousands of people took to the streets for a third day to protest against the coup that overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing was speaking in a televised address, his first to the country since last Monday’s military takeover. He repeated claims that last November’s election, won by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), had been fraudulent.

But in the capital Naypyitaw, crowds of protesters chanted anti-coup slogans and told police they should serve the people not the military, according to media and a live feed of events.

Police turned water cannons on protesters and warned that they might use live fire if the demonstrators did not disperse, but the protests ended without bloodshed.

Demonstrations also took place in the main city Yangon and elsewhere. Gatherings have so far been largely peaceful, unlike bloody crackdowns on previous protests, in 1988 and 2007in particular when hundreds were killed.

The generals had already tried to justify their takeover on the grounds of election fraud — rejected by the election committee — and had promised a new poll.

Min Aung Hlaing reiterated that position in his address on Monday, saying the junta would form a “true and disciplined democracy” different to previous eras of military rule.

The election committee must be reformed, he said. It had used the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse and did not allow fair campaigning, he said.

“We will have a multiparty election and we will hand the power to the one who wins in that election, according to the rules of democracy,” he said.

He gave no time frame but the junta has said a state of emergency will last one year.

“I want to make a request to every citizen that everyone should go with the true facts and not to follow feelings of your own,” he said.

Upping the stakes in the crisis, state media had earlier signalled possible action against protesters.

“We, the whole people who value justice, freedom, equality, peace and safety, not only refuse to accept the lawless wrongdoers, but also request that they be prevented and removed through cooperation,” the MRTV television station said in a comment that was later read out on a militaryo-wned network.

Calls to join protests and to back a campaign of civil disobedience have grown louder and more organized since the coup, which drew widespread international condemnation.

“Our message to the public is that we aim to completely abolish this military regime and we have to fight for our destiny,” Aye Misan, a nurse at a government hospital said at a protest in Yangon.