The junta-appointed election commission of Myanmar has officially nullified the results of the November 2020 general elections, claiming there was widespread fraud. The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) issued a statement that people's power is elected by the people, who are the original owners of sovereignty, and it cannot be annulled by an illegal order of any group. Two distinct political parties slammed the junta’s announcement: the Arakan National Party (ANP) said that the cancellation of the 2020 election results could exacerbate the political crisis and the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) said the junta’s cancellation of election results saying the results represented the people’s will.

Junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said that elections would be held and the state of emergency would be lifted by August 2023, extending the military's initial timeline given six months ago. Also and said that Myanmar had favoured Thailand's former deputy foreign minister Virasakdi Futrakul as the ASEAN envoy to Myanmar. He took the new title of “Prime Minister”' in a newly formed “Caretaker Government” and junta’s State Administration Council’s Deputy Chair Soe Win was appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister.

According to Reporting ASEAN, 6 months after the coup, the situation in Myanmar is as follows; 90% of government activity has ceased, 57% of firms were confident of staying in business over the next month (in June 2021), 52 % of firms encountered cash flow shortages, 3.4 million more people may go hungry in the next 6 months, FDI commitments fell by 63%, cooking oil prices rose by 33%, there are 22,000 refugees in neighboring countries and 220,000 IDPs since the coup, 35,000 migrant workers back from Thailand, a 21% reduction in trade, a reduction of 18% in GDP growth in 2021 and 11 major investors have left Myanmar.

Flooding in Myanmar has displaced hundreds of people, adding to the misery of a nation struggling against a fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak while living through the chaos created by a military coup in February. Heavy downpours since the weekend caused flooding in several areas of Sagaing & Tanintharyi Regions, Mon, Rakhine and Kayin States, forcing healthcare workers to move COVID-19 patients through drenched streets and alleys in search of someplace drier. The number of COVID-19 fatalities in the third wave of coronavirus in Myanmar has exceeded the combined total of COVID-19 deaths in the first two waves of the pandemic, according to the junta-controlled Ministry of Health and Sports (MOHS).

Myanmar junta’s forces have killed more than 100 teenagers following the Feb. 1 military coup that overthrew the country’s democratically elected civilian government, according to figures tallied by a human rights monitor group, Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). A Chin watchdog group also said that troops allied with Myanmar’s junta have killed more than 80 ethnic Chins in the country since the military took power in a Feb. 1 coup, including two infants and a 15-year-old rape victim.

The World Bank said in its latest report that Myanmar’s economy is set to shrink by 18 percent this fiscal year 2021 (October 2020-September 2021) amid the ongoing political upheaval caused by the military coup and a rapid surge in the third wave of COVID-19 in the country.

Human Rights Watch urged Myanmar’s junta to stop prosecuting journalists and end its assault on independent media, releasing a video about the media crackdown. Norway’s Telenor will transfer the call data records of its 18 million Myanmar subscribers to the military-linked Lebanese company when it exits the country, raising fear among activists of transferring personal data and will place them at risk of arrest by the junta. More than 400 Myanmar Civil Society Groups said the Telenor sale broke OECD rules. A Dutch non-profit organization filed a complaint on behalf of them alleging that Telenor violates the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’s “responsible disengagement” rules.

Protests continue in different parts of Myanmar despite the crackdown by the junta. The clashes between the junta forces and the civil resistance fighters or Ethnic Armed Organizations also emerged across Myanmar particularly in Shan, Karen, Kachin, Mon, Chin States and Sagaing, Mandalay and Magway Regions.

According to the information compiled by ANFREL, at least 31 bomb blasts happened across Myanmar in the past week. It was reported that at least 10 people were injured.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) reported that, as of 31 July, 940 people have been killed by the junta. 5,444 people are currently under detention and 255 are sentenced. 65 have been sentenced to death and 1,964 are evading arrest warrants.

Download here: Myanmar Situation Update (26 July - 1 August 2021)