Myanmar’s military, which took power in a coup over two years ago, has proposed a tough new political party rule that is sure to raise doubts about the fairness of August elections. The new rule prohibits parties and candidates with ties to “identified as perpetrating terror crimes” or “unlawful” groups. Parties that wish to run in the national election will also require 100,000 members within three months of registration and 100 million Myanmar kyat ($45,500), 100 times more than before. The state-owned Myanma Economic Bank must hold the funds.
On Friday, coup leader Min Aung Hlaing’s law was published in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar. On February 1, 2021, the military imprisoned elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and took control after her National League for Democracy won a landslide election. The generals accused the poll of fraud without proof. International monitors rated the November 2020 election mostly free and fair. Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains highly popular, has been incarcerated for more than 30 years after private trials on crimes from unlawfully having walkie-talkies to corruption that opponents say are aimed to remove her from politics. Other prominent party members, including former President Win Myint, have been convicted and imprisoned. The military initially promised fresh elections within a year after worldwide condemnation of the coup and US sanctions. It subsequently changed its mind and said they will be conducted between February and August 2023. Existing parties must register within two months or be “automatically invalidated” under the new rule. Parties can also be suspended for three years and disbanded for violating the new legislation.
Parties cannot challenge electoral commission registration decisions either, according to the law. The military’s savage assault on anti-coup protesters drove people to take up guns and join ethnic armed groups in Myanmar’s border areas, plunging the country into a political crisis. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a civil society group monitoring the crackdown, reports that the military has murdered nearly 3,000 individuals since seizing control. Thousands more have been imprisoned with “terrorist” organizations opposing the troops.
