Myanmar junta extends state of emergency, claims it plans to hold elections

Critics deride possible vote as ploy to keep generals in power through proxies

Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar's armed forces, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing delivers his speech at the IX Moscow conference on international security in Moscow on June 23, 2021. © Reuters

January 31, 2025 17:10 JST

(Reuters) -- Myanmar's ruling military has extended a state of emergency for another six months, state media reported on Friday, a day ahead of the four-year anniversary of a coup that plunged the country into chaos after a decade of tentative democracy.

Myanmar has been locked in a civil war triggered by the military's overthrow of the elected civilian government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.