Nay Pyi Taw: On the morning the country’s new Parliament session was to begin after elections won by a landslide by Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD party, a presenter on military-owned Myawaddy TV announced that the military had taken control of the country for one year. The presenter said the reason for the takeover was in part due to the government’s failure to act on the military’s claims of voter fraud in last November’s election and its failure to postpone the election because of the coronavirus crisis.
The BBC reported that troops were patrolling streets in major cities and TV channels, including the state broadcaster, had gone off air.
Suu Kyi urged her supporters to “not accept this” and “protest against the coup”.
In the early hours of Monday, the army’s TV station said power had been handed over to commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing.
Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) were arrested in a series of raids.
No major violence has been reported. Soldiers blocked roads in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, and the main city, Yangon. International and domestic TV channels, including the state broadcaster, went off air.
Internet and phone services have been disrupted. Banks said they had been forced to close.
The military takeover follows weeks of tensions between the armed forces and the government following parliamentary elections lost by the army-backed opposition.
The United States has condemned the coup, saying it “opposes any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for the release of all those detained and said the US “stands with the people of Burma in their aspirations for democracy”.
In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the coup and Aung San Suu Kyi’s “unlawful imprisonment”.
European Union leaders have issued similar condemnations.
China, which has previously opposed international intervention in Myanmar, urged all sides in the country to “resolve differences”.
The NLD won 83% of available seats in what many saw as a referendum on Ms Suu Kyi’s civilian government. It was just the second election since the end of military rule in 2011.
The military said it had found millions of voting irregularities, but the election commission rejected the claims.
The armed forces filed complaints to the Supreme Court against the president and the electoral commission.
Fears of a coup rose after the military recently threatened to “take action” over alleged fraud. It now says it will use its emergency powers to organise a new vote.
The takeover is a sharp reversal of the partial yet significant progress toward democracy Myanmar made in recent years following five decades of military rule and international isolation that began in 1962. It would also be a shocking fall from power for Suu Kyi, who led the democracy struggle despite years under house arrest and won a Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts.

Press Trust of India