1. The Myanmar Tatmadaw has firmly adhered to the motto of ‘People are the parents’ in dealing with the public in successive times. The ‘multiparty democracy system’ expected by the people was also peacefully adopted through political cultures of negotiation and legal procedures.
2. The 2010 Multiparty General Election, the 2015 Multiparty General Election, the 2012 By-election and the 2017 By-election were organized successfully. There were no significant controversies over the elections, except for some common arguments which were settled by the UEC and members at that time.
3. In exercising the multiparty democracy system, an independent and fair election is the lifeblood. The only free and fair election could reflect genuine people’s desire. Article 4 of the 2008 State Constitution has mentioned that ‘The sovereign power of the Union is derived from the citizens and is in force in the entire country.’ The government, the Hluttaws and organizations at Union and region/state levels which will exercise the state power are elected by the public directly or indirectly. Only when such elections are independent, clean and fair, will it reflect the genuine public desire, and would it be truly derived from the people/ nationals.
4. There were 10,482,116 (over 10.4 million) errors which can be assumed as the voting fraud on the findings from the scrutiny on official voter lists officially issued by the Union Election Commission in the 2020 multiparty general election. The official announcement of UEC said there were 38 million eligible voters, and that over 10 million voting frauds have accounted for 25 per cent of eligible voters. People can understand that the case was not an ordinary mistake and a regular controversy. To realize this problem, the Tatmadaw has issued the statements on the findings for 30 times, 2 announcements before the elections and 4 announcements after the elections, totally 6 times. The concrete documents were transparently displayed in front of over 50 local and international media organizations during the press conference of the Tatmadaw.
5. The Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services has repeatedly reminded even before the election to ensure an independent and fair election, as well as sincere politics as it is a foundation for the multiparty democracy system. ‘whether an independent and fair election or not’ cannot be decided only on the election day. All at least three periods—campaign period before the election, during the election, and the post-election— must be scrutinized on its fairness, no doubt, and reliability. However, there were controversies over freedom, fairness and reliability in all three periods. Therefore, a total of 20 political parties issued 26 letters of announcement over possible voting fraud and called for the delay of the third Hluttaw session until the complaints have been solved. A total of the 124 protests took place in 99 townships from 10-11-2020 to 29-1-2021, objecting to the works of UEC.
6. The Tatmadaw, in accordance with the 2008 Constitution and other existing laws, did the following without violating provisions of the laws to ensure “free and fair elections”:
(a) On 2-11-2020, Tatmadaw issued a statement to inform the Union Government and the Union Election Commission about situations in the run-up to the multiparty democracy general election; the Union Election Commission’s various directives that violated existing laws; and fraudulent issues encountered during advance voting.
(b) On 2-11-2020, a statement was issued calling on all ethnic armed organizations not to threaten local ethnic people and political parties in order that political parties could conduct election campaigns and to ensure free and fair elections.
(c) On 30-11-2020, a statement was issued requesting to let copies of documents in accordance with Article 74 and 76 of the Evidence Act to resolve electoral disputes and to ensure that the public recognizes the general election as free and fair.
(d) The Union Election Commission did not allow the copying of documents, so on 10-12-2020, a statement was issued requesting the copying of such documents as citizen’s right to vote and the right to object in accordance with the laws.
(e) On 11-1-2021, a total of 203 Hluttaw representatives from Tatmadaw and political parties called for the convening of a Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Special Session in accordance with the Constitution, and the request was denied. So, on 14-1-2021, we issued a statement to review whether the denial is in accordance with the Constitution.
(f) The reason why the Tatmadaw announced its findings of the general election and election fraud lists were that Tatmadaw wanted to unequivocally recognize the results of free, fair, and transparent general election. If the Union Election Commission could resolve the issue and could show that it was a free, fair, and transparent election reflecting the real will of the general public, then Tatmadaw and political parties would accept the results in accordance with the real will of the voters. So, on 20-1-2021, Tatmadaw issued a statement requesting that the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw or the Union Government, or the Union Election Commission find a solution to resolve the issue for the benefit of the State and the citizens.
7. In addition to the above-mentioned statements, the Tatmadaw issued a statement calling on the government to convene a meeting of the National Defence and Security Council to address the issue. The Tatmadaw also issued statements urging the Union Election Commission, which was directly involved in the election, to resolve the issue in accordance with the laws and procedures. When the Union Election Commission refused to resolve the issue, the Tatmadaw requested the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw to resolve it. Although the request was in line with the laws, the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw refused to convene the special session of the Hluttaw. Then, Tatmadaw requested that the government or Pyidaungsu Hluttaw or the Union Election Commission needed to find a solution to resolve the issue. When all these steps were rejected, we proposed twice to convene a meeting of the President-led “National Defence and Security Council”, which represents both the civilian and the military. Tatmadaw followed the procedures and the laws step-by-step.
8. The Tatmadaw follows Article 4 of the Constitution, which says “the Sovereign power of the Union is derived from the citizens and is in force in the entire country”; Article 6 (d) and 7 of the Constitution, which says “flourishing of a genuine, disciplined multiparty democratic system”, and Article 6 (f) of the Constitution, “enabling the Defence Services to be able to participate in the National political leadership role of the State”. The relevant officials failed to resolve the issues related to 10,482,116 (more than ten million four hundred thousands) possiblefraudulent ballots in the 2020 general election, but they convened the Hluttaw and tried to form a government. These actions are “acts to take over the sovereignty of the Union by wrongful forcible means” as mentioned in the Section 40 (c ) and 417 of the Constitution
9. Therefore, by following the provisions (of the Constitution) mentioned in paragraph 8 of this announcement, the Tatmadaw has been taking all duties and responsibilities of the State since 1 February. The Tatmadaw will do necessary tasks in accordance with the laws. A genuine and disciplined multiparty democratic system will be established with full justice, and free and fair general elections will be held as soon as the tasks are completed in accordance with the emergency provisions, and the power will be transferred to the winning political party. We would like to call on all the citizens to work together with the Tatmadaw to build a genuine and disciplined multiparty democractic system with full justice.
Office of the Commander-in-Chief of
Defence Services