Military threats, coup fears overshadow Myanmar parliament opening

Reuters | Yangon

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Myanmar members of parliament are set to take up their seats on Monday as escalating tension between the civilian government and the powerful military stirs fears of a coup in the aftermath of an election the army says was fraudulent.

The army has said it plans to “take action” if its complaints about the election are not addressed and a spokesman this week declined to rule out the possibility of a coup.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won a resounding victory in the November 8 poll, only the second free and fair general election since the end of direct army rule in 2011.

But allegations by the army of widespread voter fraud, which the electoral commission denies, have led to the most direct confrontation yet between the civilian government and the military, who share power in an awkward constitutional arrangement.

The charter reserves 25% of seats in parliament for the military, which has demanded a resolution to its complaints before Monday and has refused to be drawn on whether its lawmakers will show up.