Myanmar's ruling military on Monday extended its state of emergency that was due to expire Tuesday for another six months, state media reported, forcing a delay of a promised general election.
With the fourth extension, the election aimed at returning to civilian rule, following a February 2021 coup that ousted the country's civilian government, will not happen until August next year at the earliest.
The junta on Monday held a meeting of the National Defense and Security Council, the country's supreme decision-making body, where they decided to extend the measure, according to the MRTV broadcast.
The decision was announced by Acting President Myint Swe, the chair of the council, after junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing told the meeting the ongoing conflicts and security conditions in the country are hampering the military's efforts to hold elections and return to civilian rule, the report said.
A general election has to be held within six months after a state of emergency is lifted.
The fourth extension came after it allowed Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai to meet Myanmar's detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in early July, in the first confirmed contact between a high-ranking foreign government official and Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi might have been moved from a prison to house arrest in the capital Naypyitaw, BBC's Burmese-language service reported on July 25, citing a source close to the prison.
The country's de facto leader until the Feb. 1, 2021, coup has been tried on 19 charges, including corruption and election fraud, and now faces a total of 33 years in prison, essentially a life sentence for the 78-year-old Nobel Peace laureate.
Citizens' peaceful protests against the junta following the coup, which were met with harsh military crackdowns, have since morphed into armed resistance supported by Myanmar's government-in-exile formed by key members of Suu Kyi's political party who managed to escape arrest.
More than 3,800 people from the anti-coup camp have been killed, with over 24,000 arrested, according to the activist group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, based in neighboring Thailand.
Min Aung Hlaing, spoke at a cabinet meeting on July 13 and highlighted the severity of the ongoing conflict, saying that the junta still needs to make efforts to restore the rule of law and stability in the country.
