Myanmar military arrests leaders, claims power for year
Aung San Suu Kyi, others held as brass claim fraud in November election
NAYPYITAW, Myanmar — Myanmar military television said Monday that the military was taking control of the country for one year, and a news service reported that leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other top civilian officials had been detained.
An announcement on military-owned Myawaddy TV cited a section of the military-drafted constitution that allows the military to take control during national emergencies. It said the takeover was prompted by the government’s failure to act on the military’s claims of voter fraud in November’s election and its failure to postpone the election because of the COVID-19 crisis.
The announcement follows days of concern about a possible coup. It came the morning the country’s new Parliament session was to begin.
The Irrawaddy, an established online news service, reported that Suu Kyi and the country’s president, Win Myint, were both detained before dawn Monday. The report cited a spokesman for the National League for Democracy party.
Phone and internet access to Naypyitaw was cut, and the NLD could not be reached.
A White House statement said, “The United States opposes any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections … and will take action against those responsible if these steps are not reversed.” .
The 75-year-old Suu Kyi is by far the country’s most dominant politician, and became the country’s leader after leading a decades-long nonviolent struggle against military rule.
Suu Kyi’s party captured 396 out of 476 seats in Parliament in the November election.
The military charged that there was massive voter fraud, though it has failed to provide proof. The state Union Election Commission last week rejected its allegations.
Amid the bickering over the allegations, the military on Tuesday ramped up political tension when a spokesman at its weekly news conference, responding to a reporter’s question, declined to rule out the possibility of a coup. Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun elaborated by saying the military would “follow the laws in accordance with the constitution.”
Using similar language, Commander-in-Chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing told senior officers in a speech Wednesday that the constitution could be revoked if the laws were not being properly enforced. Adding to the concern was the unusual deployment of armored vehicles in the streets of several large cities.
On Saturday, however, the military denied it had threatened a coup, accusing unnamed organizations and media of misrepresenting its position and taking the general’s words out of context.