The National Unity Government (NUG) has officially announced that it will take effective legal action against any attempts by the military to pressure civilians into participating in illegal sham elections within NUG-controlled territories. The NUG’s Central Counter-Terrorism Committee has already designated the military junta and its subordinate organization, the so-called Union Election Commission, as terrorist groups. The military has no authority to conduct elections after staging a coup in February 2021, during which they illegally detained State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and other civilian government leaders, and has been declared an enemy of the state.
The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) abolished the 2008 Constitution on March 30, 2021, rendering all actions by the military under that constitution illegal and void. The NUG maintains that the results of the 2020 election remain politically legitimate, and the legislative and administrative bodies formed based on those results continue to exist. The military’s attempt to force a fraudulent election is seen as both a violation of democratic principles and an illegitimate attempt to seize people’s sovereign power. The military has committed numerous war crimes against ethnic minorities and Myanmar citizens, making them internationally wanted war criminals. Since the beginning of the Spring Revolution in February 2021, they have continued to commit major war crimes against civilians.
The NUG believes that only a people-driven, inclusive, and democratic process – not the military’s political deception – can truly determine Myanmar’s future. Therefore, they will continue to work with ethnic allied groups and revolutionary forces according to the Federal Democracy Charter’s political roadmap, which includes drafting and approving a federal democratic constitution through a national convention and holding free elections. The NUG has called on the international community, governments, and democratic allies to recognize that the military’s forced sham election is not a solution to Myanmar’s current situation and that supporting such actions is equivalent to endorsing the military’s war crimes and supporting impunity for their crimes.
