YANGON: Myanmar’s junta ended the country’s state of emergency on Thursday, ramping up preparations for a December election being boycotted by opposition groups and criticized by international monitors. The military declared a state of emergency in February 2021 as it deposed the civilian government of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a many-sided civil war which has claimed thousands of lives. The order gave junta chief Min Aung Hlaing supreme power over the legislature, executive and judiciary — but he has recently touted elections as an off-ramp to the conflict.

Opposition groups are set to boycott the December poll, which a UN expert has already branded ‘a fraud’.

Opposition groups have vowed to snub poll that has been dismissed as ‘a fraud’ designed to legitimise military’s rule