Myanmar’s ruling junta on Friday (Jan 27) 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.
Myanmar’s top generals led a coup in February 2021 after five years of tense power-sharing under a quasi-civilian political system that was created by the military, which led to a decade of unprecedented reform.
The country has been in chaos since the putsch, with a resistance movement fighting the military on multiple fronts after a bloody crackdown on opponents that saw Western sanctions re-imposed.
The military has pledged to hold an election in August this year. An announcement in Friday’s state media said parties intending to compete nationally must have at least 100,000 members, up from 1,000 previously, and commit to running in the election in the next 60 days or be deregistered as a party.
The rules favour the Union Solidarity and Development Party, a military proxy stacked with former generals, which was trounced by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party in 2015 and 2020 elections.