AFP
Myanmar’s junta has annulled the results of the country’s 2020 election, which saw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party win in a landslide, drawing condemnation from political parties who condemned the move as illegal and said they will not honor it.
The military-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC) announced the decision late on Monday evening, claiming that more than 11.3 million ballots had been discounted due to fraud and other irregularities during the Nov. 8 vote.
Among alleged irregularities, the commission said the deposed NLD government had assigned members of the UEC sub-commission at Myanmar’s state and regional levels, election authorities allowed voters to cast ballots without presenting their national identification cards, voters cast multiple ballots under the same name, and the NLD election victory committee members were part of a commission in charge of gathering early ballots.
RFA
Several political prisoners staged a rare protest at Myanmar’s notorious Insein Prison on Friday demanding that authorities grant their freedom, days after the ruling military junta announced an emergency COVID-19 amnesty for inmates charged with all minor crimes except defamation.
The prisoners of conscience began their demonstration early in the morning and could be heard singing pro-democracy songs in unison, as well as calling for the release of detained National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint. Their singing could be heard well outside the walls of the prison in Myanmar’s largest city Yangon.
Myanmar Junta Arrests HIV/AIDS Patients in Yangon
The NLD HIV/AIDS Center in East Dagon. / CJ
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By The Irrawaddy 3 May 2021
Junta security forces arrested HIV/AIDS patients at a HIV care center in Yangon on Sunday.
Three people on ART – HIV medication – and nine others were arrested at the center, which was founded and is run by elected lawmaker and National League for Democracy (NLD) member Daw Phyu Phyu Thin.
“Those who are on medication are not in good health and if anything happens to them, the megalomaniac (junta) will be held responsible. I want to say that the clock is ticking for them. Prepare to be re-payed for what you have done and are doing to every person with grudges,” wrote Daw Phyu Phyu Thin on her Facebook page.
Photo: RFA
Mobs of pro-military thugs with sticks, knives, and slingshots attacked anti-coup protesters at a popular rally site in Myanmar’s largest city on Thursday, injuring at least 20 people after being unleashed on demonstrators, the protesters said.
Attacking after police removed street barriers erected to stifle anti-coup protests, junta supporters stabbed and beat a man and injured others amid an attack on anti-regime protesters near the Sule Shangri-La Hotel on Sule Pagoda Road, a center of the rallies held during the 25 days since the military takeover.
The pro-military mob that flooded into the area attacked a man who walked in front of them carrying a photo of deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, hitting him on the head from behind.