Rejection of the Myanmar Coup Becomes Stronger

More and more Asian regional civil society organizations resist the coup by the Myanmar military (Tatmadaw). Through the release of the Asia Network for Free Election (ANFREL) as of 2/3 in Bangkok, at least 46 international election and human rights organizations joined forces to reject the Myanmar coup.

Through its website, ANFREL continues to invite many parties to join in giving statements rejecting the coup in Myanmar. Many countries have submitted invitations and statements of rejection in various languages.

This ANFREL’s statement is a concerned response to what is happening in Myanmar. The Tatmadaw carried out a coup attempt because they considered the Myanmar Election on November 8, 2020 had a lot of fraud. The Tatmadaw coup involved the kidnapping/detention of political opponents including State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and Chair of the General Election Commission U Hla Thein, as well as pro-democracy activists and politicians from other parties.

The Tatmadaw then seized power, declared a one-year state of emergency, and inaugurated Vice President and retired general U Myint Swe as acting president. It was also announced that new elections would be held after a state of emergency under a new electoral commission, which was appointed on the evening of February 2.

The Tatmadaw coup rejecting the election results in Myanmar is contrary to democracy and the Myanmar constitution. Myanmar’s constitution and electoral law provide a means of resolving disputes through the electoral court. The United Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) which is supported by Tatmadaw has the constitutional right to resolve disputes over election results to the judiciary based on all claims of fraud.

Election observers or human rights monitoring organizations then mobilized support for the rejection of the coup. The Tatmadaw must restore power to the civilian-led government, and seek election-related compensation through the legal process established under the 2008 Constitution.

The following is a list of election and human rights organizations joining in condemning the military coup in Myanmar and calling for the immediate release of all detained politicians, government officials and activists:

1. Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL)
   2. Association for Elections and Democracy (PERLUDEM), Indonesia
   3. Cambodian Human Rights Action Coalition (CHRAC)
   4. Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC)
   5. Cambodian Institute for Democracy (CID)
   6. Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO)
   7. Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (CENTRAL), Cambodia
   8. Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), Sri Lanka
   9. Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), Sri Lanka
   10. Citizen Congress Watch (CCW), Taiwan
   11. Civil Network OPORA, Ukraine
   12. Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0), Malaysia
   13. Coalition of Cambodian Farmers Community (CCFC)
   14. Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (COMFREL)
   15. East and Horn of Africa Election Observers Network (E-HORN)
   16. Elections Observation Group (ELOG), Kenya
   17. ENGAGE, Malaysia
   18. Free and Fair Election Forum (FEFA), Afghanistan
   19. Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN), Pakistan
   20. General Election Observation Committee (GEOC)/Nepal Law Society
   21. Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors (GNDEM)
   22. Hong Kong Election Observation Project (HKEOP)
   23. Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA), Cambodia
   24. Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP), Indonesia
   25. Jaringan Pendidikan Pemilih untuk Rakyat (JPPR), Indonesia
   26. Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE), Philippines
   27. MARUAH (Working Group for ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism, Singapore)
   28. Movement for Free & Fair Elections (MDDE), Sri Lanka
   29. National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), Philippines
   30. National Election Observation Committee (NEOC), Nepal
   31. National Election Watch Sierra Leone (NEWSL)
   32. Neutral & Impartial Committee for Free & Fair Elections in Cambodia (NICFEC)
   33. Open Forum for Democracy Foundation (P-NET), Thailand
   34. People Center for Development and Peace (PDP-Center), Cambodia
   35. People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), Sri Lanka
   36. Pusat KOMAS, Malaysia
   37. Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)
   38. Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB)
   39. Tindak Malaysia
   40. Transparency International Cambodia
   41. Transparency Maldives
   42. Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA)
   43. We Watch, Thailand
   44. West Africa Election Observers Network (WAEON)
   45. Women for Social Progress (WSP), Mongolia
   46. Youth Resource Development Program (YRDP), Cambodia

*https://anfrel.org/joint-statement-myanmar-stop-the-coup-let-election-tribunals-do-their-job/