Full text of Myanmar army statement on state of emergency

Myanmar’s army declared a state of emergency on Monday as it carried out detentions of senior government leaders in response to alleged fraud during November’s general election. Although the sovereignty of the nation must derive from the people, there was terrible fraud in the voter list during the democratic general election which runs contrary to ensuring a stable democracy. A refusal to settle the issue of voter list fraud and a failure to take action and follow a request to postpone lower-house and upper-house parliament sessions is not in accordance with Article 417 of the 2018 constitution that refers to ‘acts or attempts to take over the sovereignty of the Union by wrongful forcible means’ and could lead to a disintegration of national solidarity. In order to perform scrutiny of the voter lists and to take action, the authority of the nation’s law making, governance and jurisdiction is handed over to the commander in chief in accordance with the 2008 constitution Article 418, sub article.