Myanmar junta releases more prisoners ahead of proposed elections

Myanmar’s military junta released more than 3,000 political prisoners this week as part of its pre-election amnesty.

The junta’s National Defence and Security Council said that the charges against the political prisoners were dropped to allow the residents to participate in the nationwide elections that start on December 28. The second phase of the elections will continue in January 2026.

The council also pointed out that the political prisoners were released “to ensure that all eligible voters do not lose their right to vote in the upcoming multi-party democratic general election,” according to Mizzima News.

Meanwhile, reporters saw around 200 prisoners being released by military authorities on Thursday at the famous Insein Prison in Yangon.

Families of inmates waited outside the Insein Prison while holding banners bearing the names of their respective family members and relatives.

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National League for Democracy chief freed

Several members of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party have been jailed by the military junta since 2021 due to alleged cheating during the 2020 nationwide elections in Myanmar.

Suu Kyi’s NLD party won a majority of the available seats during the 2020 elections, but Myanmar’s junta dissolved the party the following year due to alleged irregularities during the election proper.

However, former NLD information committee chief Kyi Toe was among those released by the military government as part of the pre-election amnesty.

Kyi Toe was able to talk to local and international reporters after his release but avoided questions regarding politics and his time in prison.

But the former NLD committee chief promised to continue to work with Suu Kyi, who remains behind bars due to multiple cases filed by the military junta.

Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remains imprisoned

Suu Kyi, who remains as one of the most important political figures in Myanmar, continues to serve her 27-year prison sentence for her alleged crimes.

The Nobel laureate’s son, Kim Aris, is actively campaigning for the NLD leader’s release, stressing that her health continues to deteriorate while being held by the junta.

Kim Aris admitted during an interview with FRANCE 24 that he has no idea where Suu Kyi was being kept by the military regime.

“I can only hope that she will survive. All I want is for her to be moved to house arrest and to be getting the care that she needs,” he said, referring to his mother’s health condition.

Earlier this month, French President Emmanuel Macron renewed Paris’ call for the immediate release of the 80-year-old democracy leader, former President U Win Myint, and other political prisoners.

Kim Aris welcomed the French government’s appeal, stressing that “France’s voice of conscience reminds the world that compassion and moral courage can guide us through even the darkest times.”

Nationwide election planning underway

With Suu Kyi and other NLD members in jail, parties linked with the military regime are expected to win the available seats for the proposed nationwide elections.

The military junta said that it is now finalising its preparations for the polls, but voting in some areas will be suspended due to the ongoing clashes with rebel groups.

The junta regime has already reached out to several nations and international groups to send election observers but the majority of those invited have already declined the junta’s request.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is receiving a lot of pressure due to the Myanmar crisis, has already stressed that it would not send a team to observe the December elections.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow claimed recently that the military’s planned elections “will be neither free nor credible.”

“We want it to be free and credible, but it’s not going to be the case, we know that,” Phuangketkeow said, according to Agence France-Presse.

As the December poll nears, more countries and international rights groups are expected to ignore the military junta’s election plan.

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