Announcement To Public: Office Of The Commander-In-Chief Of Defence Services Issued Announcement

The Office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services issued an announcement to public on 2nd February. It stated that the 2010  Multiparty  General  Election,  the 2015  Multiparty  General  Election,  the  2012 By-election and the 2017 By-election were organized successfully.

There were no significant controversies  over  the  elections,  except  for some common arguments which were settled by the UEC and members at that time. Article 4 of the 2008  State  Constitution  has  mentioned  that ‘The sovereign power of the Union is derived from the citizens and is in force in the entire country.’ 

The government, the Hluttaws and organizations at Union and region/state levels which will exercise the state power are elected by the public directly or indirectly.

There were over 10.4 million errors which can be assumed as the voting fraud on the findings from the scrutiny on official voter lists  officially  issued  by  the  Union  Election Commission  in  the  2020  multiparty  general election.  The official  announcement  of  UEC said there were 38 million eligible voters, and that over 10 million voting frauds have accounted for 25 per cent of eligible voters. To  realize  this  problem,  the  Tatmadaw  has  issued the  statements  on  the  findings for  30  times, 2 announcements before the elections and 4 announcements after the elections, totally 6 times. 

The Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services has repeatedly reminded even before the election to ensure an independent and fair election, as well as sincere politics as it is a foundation for the multiparty democracy system. A total of 20 political parties issued 26 letters of announcement over possible voting fraud and called for the delay of the third Hluttaw session until the complaints have been solved.

A total of the 124 protests took place in 99 townships from 10th November 2020 to 29th January 2021, objecting to the works of UEC. The reason why the Tatmadaw announced its findings of the general election and election fraud lists were that Tatmadaw wanted to unequivocally recognize the results of free, fair, and transparent general election. The  Tatmadaw  also  issued statements  urging  the  Union  Election  Commission,  which  was  directly  involved  in  the election,  to  resolve  the  issue  in  accordance with the laws and procedures.

Although the request was in line with the laws, the PyidaungsuHluttaw refused to convene the special session of the Hluttaw. Then, Tatmadaw requested that the government  orPyidaungsuHluttaw  or  the Union Election Commission needed to find a solution to resolve the issue.

When all these steps  were  rejected,  a proposal was made  twice  to convene a meeting of the President-led “National Defence and Security Council”, which represents both the civilian and the military.

The  Tatmadaw  follows  Article  4  of  the  Constitution, which says “the Sovereign power of the Union is derived from the citizens and is in force in the entire country”; Article 6 (d) and 7 of the Constitution, which says “flourishing of a genuine, disciplined multiparty democratic system”, and Article 6 (f) of the Constitution, “enabling the Defence Services to be able to participate in the National political leadership role of the State”.

The relevant officials failed to resolve the issues related to more than 10 million possible  fraudulent  ballots  in  the  2020  general election, but they convened the Hluttaw and tried to form a government. These actions are “acts to take over the sovereignty of the Union by wrongful forcible means” as mentioned in the Section 40 (c ) and 417 of the Constitution.

Therefore, by following the provisions of the Constitution, mentioned in paragraph 8 of this announcement, the Tatmadaw has been taking all duties and responsibilities of the State since 1 February. The Tatmadaw will do necessary tasks in accordance with the laws.

A genuine and disciplined multiparty democratic system will be established with full justice, and free and fair general elections will be held as soon as the tasks are completed in accordance with the emergency provisions, and the power will be transferred to the winning political party. All the citizens are urged to work together with the Tatmadaw to build a genuine and disciplined multiparty democratic system with full justice.