Myanmar extends state of emergency by 6 months as fighting intensifies

BANGKOK/YANGON -- Myanmar's military regime on Wednesday extended a national state of emergency by six months amid intense fighting with rebel groups, stoking concern that it could increase political and economic control ahead of a proposed general election in 2025.

Myanmar has remained under a state of emergency since the military took control of the country in February 2021. The National Defense and Security Council decided to extend the emergency for the sixth time at a meeting in the capital, Naypyitaw, on Wednesday.

The state of emergency gives regime leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing wide-ranging authority. Myanmar's constitution requires that a general election be held within six months of it ending. This means that to hold a vote sometime next year, the military regime would be expected to lift the emergency when the latest extension expires at the end of January.

But few consider this a likely scenario. As rebel groups ratchet up their offensive, the military has been pushed into unprecedented moves like occupying key cities and enacting a draft. The surge in displaced people and soaring prices are only adding to the instability in Myanmar.

The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), an ethnic armed group, said July 25 that it had occupied a regional military headquarters in Lashio -- one of 14 across Myanmar. The military later denied this claim.

Based in the northeastern Shan state, which shares a border with China, MNDAA is one of three powerful armed groups that launched a large-scale offensive against the military in October 2023. Though it is unclear how much of Lashio MNDAA controls, this would be the first time the Myanmar military suffered a significant defeat in a town where it has a regional