Military seizes power in Myanmar

The Myanmar Military Tatmadaw has announced a one year state of emergency in the country.  The Vice President  Myint Swe has been made the acting President and all powers have been transferred to the Commander in Chief Min Aung Hlaing. The announcement was made on Monday on the military backed TV Myawaddy channel.

The Military said  that the leaders have been detained for committing fraud in the national elections held on Nov. 8, reports Reuters.

The development follows early morning detention of the State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other senior leaders from the ruling party National League for Democracy (NLD) by the military.

In the meanwhile, the US has expressed alarm at the arrest of State Counsellor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian officials. A statement issued by the White House said that the US is monitoring the situation closely and urged the military to release those detained and adhere to democratic norms. The US has said that it opposes any attempt to alter the outcome of the recent elections. It warned that it will take action against those



responsible if these steps are not reversed.

The detention comes hours before the first meeting of the newly elected parliament was to begin on Monday. The official Myanmar News agency had announced that the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the parliament Pyithu Hluttaw will be elected on the first day of the session starting on Monday.

Earlier, in view of the rising tension between the civilian government and the military Tatmadaw over legitimacy of the Nov. 8 election results, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and 17 Western Embassies in Myanmar had issued a statement urging all to adhere to democratic norms and for the peaceful convening of the parliament to elect the President and the Speakers.

Aung San Suu Kyi took over as the head of the civilian government in 2015 after a long period of military rule in Myanmar. The National Elections held on Nov.8 saw a massive victory for NLD with the military supported USDP performing poorly. However, USDP challenged the outcome alleging mismanagement and lack of transparency. It called for re-election.