General Min Aung Hlaing to lead an 11-member commission to supervise the elections, expected in December.Myanmar’s military government has declared the end of a state of emergency as it ramps up plans for elections, which opposition groups have pledged to boycott and monitors warn will be used to consolidate the military’s hold on power under leader Min Aung Hlaing.Military government spokesman Zaw Min Tun made the announcement on Thursday, four and a half years after the military deposed the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi in a coup, sparking a multisided civil war that has killed thousands of people.“The state of emergency is abolished today in order for the country to hold elections on the path to a multiparty democracy,” Zaw Min Tun said in a voice message shared with reporters.“Elections will be held within six months,” he added. No exact date has been announced.An order signed by General Min Aung Hlaing, who led the February 2021 coup, cancelled the emergency rule that handed power to him as the armed forces chief, instead returning it to the head of state.However, Min Aung Hlaing, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity against the Muslim Rohingya minority, also occupies the position of head of state as acting president, so the order he signed essentially gives him the same powers to determine when the elections will be held and which parties may take part in the process.“We have already passed the first chapter,” Min Aung Hlaing was quoted by The Global New Light of Myanmar, a government-owned newspaper, as saying. …
