Myanmar junta extends state of emergency by six months

Myanmar's junta has extended the state of emergency by six months, again delaying fresh polls.

On July 31, army-run Myawaddy media said the military-controlled National Defence and Security Council has extended emergency rule to give the junta more time to put together population data for voter lists. The junta has said it will hold an election next year.

The military put the country under emergency rule for a year when it took power in a February 2021 coup, deposing the elected civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi and triggering nationwide street protests that it violently crushed.

The junta has since extended that every six months, as the protest movement morphed into an armed rebellion that has widened and is now posing an existential threat to the generals.