Myanmar coup fears mount as military refuses to accept election results

Myanmar's election commission rejected the military’s allegations of fraud in the November poll won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy

The UN and foreign embassies have sounded alarm and security is tight after the military refused to rule out a coup if its complaints were ignored

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Policemen stand guard behind a road barricade, as a part of security preparations ahead of next week's opening of Myanmar's parliament in Naypyidaw. Photo: AP

Published: 4:00pm, 29 Jan 2021Updated: 10:09pm, 29 Jan 2021

More than a dozen embassies, including the US and EU delegation, on Friday urged Myanmar to “adhere to democratic norms”, joining the UN in a chorus of international concern about a possible coup.

Myanmar is just a decade out of nearly 50 years of military rule, with a nascent democracy governed under a junta-authored constitution which dictates power-sharing between the civilian administration and the country’s generals.

For weeks, the powerful military has alleged widespread voter irregularities in November’s election, which Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) won in a landslide. It captured 396 out of 476 seats, allowing it to form the government for another five years. The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party won only 33 seats.

The military has been calling on the government and the Union Election Commission to review the results. It says it has found 8.6 million irregularities in voter lists in 314 townships that could have let voters cast multiple ballots or commit other “voting malpractice”.

But the election commission said on Thursday there was no evidence to support these claims, saying the polls were free, fair and credible, and had “[reflected] the will of the people”.

While the commission also denied allegations of voter fraud, it acknowledged “flaws” in the voter lists in previous elections, and said it was currently investigating a total of 287 complaints.

The military’s call for voter list verification ramped up this week, with an army spokesman on Tuesday refusing to rule out the possibility of a military takeover to deal with what he called a political crisis.