BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military government has enacted a new electoral law that imposes punishments of up to the death penalty for anyone who opposes or disrupts the elections it has promised to hold at the end of this year.
The new law was published Wednesday in the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper. It comes as the country continues to suffer from the turmoil that followed the army’s seizure of power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, which triggered widespread popular opposition.
The military sought to justify its seizure of power by claiming massive fraud took place in the 2020 election, though independent observers did not find major irregularities. After peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations were put down with lethal force, many opponents of military rule took up arms. Large parts of Myanmar are now embroiled in conflict.
The ruling military had said after its takeover that an election was its primary goal but repeatedly pushed back the date. The plan for a general election is widely seen as an attempt to normalize the military’s seizure of power through the ballot box and deliver a result that ensures that the generals retain control.
The new law, signed by Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the military government, says anyone who orates, speaks, organizes, incites, protests or distributes letters to disrupt any part of the electoral process shall be punished with three to 10 years imprisonment, as well as a fine.
It also says that anyone who threatens, obstructs, abuses or severely hurts any personnel of the election commission, candidates or voters could be sentenced to three years to life in prison.
It says whoever destroys or damages any equipment or materials used in elections, including ballot papers, or any related building or structure, could get five years to life in prison.
“If the action results in the death of a person, each person involved shall be sentenced to death,” the law says.
Security committees will be formed to monitor the activities of internal and international organizations that may threaten security during the election period, it says.
Critics have said the military-planned election will be neither free nor fair because there is no free media and most of the leaders of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party have been arrested.
The country’s current security situation also poses a serious challenge to holding elections, with the military believed to control less than half the country. However, the military-appointed state election commission said in June that it would hold the elections in 267 of the total 330 townships, depending on the security situation.
The National Unity Government, Myanmar’s main opposition organization, and the powerful ethnic armed groups that have been fighting the central government for greater autonomy have said they would try to prevent the election.
Padoh Saw Taw Nee, spokesperson for the Karen National Union, the main ethnic Karen fighting force battling Myanmar’s army in the southeast, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the new law showed the military is tenacious in trying to hold the “illegal and sham” election.
“We will continue with our own methods and plans regarding that election matter,” he said.
