Myanmar junta slaps strict election regulations on political parties

Jan. 28 (UPI) -- The military junta that has ruled Myanmar since a 2021 coup has released a 20-page document detailing an extensive list of regulations for political parties who wish to run in future elections.

Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, leader of the ruling junta since the toppling of the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi two years ago, released the new restrictions on Friday, triggering concerns that opposition to the regime will be effectively squelched.

The military government has tried to improve relations with the outside world after facing sanctions from the United States and European Union following the coup, and has stated that general elections would take place before August.

The new law, however, says organizations "declared as an unlawful association or terrorist organization" cannot run while also stipulating that those who "are in contact with the said organization or providing support to them either directly or indirectly," cannot register for elections, Bloomberg reported.

The regulations also require political parties to have 100,000 members within 90 days of official registration while raising the amount of money parties are required to have available to $45,000.

The new regulations pose a major threat to the prospects of imprisoned former leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, which has been targeted by the Junta on security pretexts.

Leaders of the NLD told the independent Myanmar Now news agency the junta's move is meant as a death knell for their movement due to its requirement that no political party have members who are serving jail terms.

Aung San Suu Kyi spent over a decade under house arrest under a prior military government and was listed as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International in 1989. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while still under house arrest.

In 2015, her NLD scored a momentous victory in Myanmar's first openly contested election in 25 years and was reelected by a landslide five years later, but the military claimed election fraud and she was deposed in a coup.

Suu Kyi was again arrested and jailed, along with the political leadership of the NLD.

During her tenure, Suu Kyi's reputation as a human rights icon was tarnished when a United Nations investigation concluded that she had failed in her duty to prevent an alleged genocide of the country's Rohingya minority by the still-dominant army. Despite that, she remains a highly popular figure in Myanmar.

A UN report released Friday contends that close to 3,000 people have died at the hands of the junta since it deposed Suu Kyi in 2021, while 1.2 million people have been internally displaced and more than 70,000 have fled the country.