Myanmar Enabling Environment baseline snapshot

On 1 February 2021, the military junta, led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, attempted to overthrow the government in response to a landslide election victory by the National League for Democracy (NLD), which they deemed unconstitutional and fraudulent. The attempted coup halted Burma’s decade-long democratic transition and sparked large-scale protests nationwide. In the weeks following the attempted coup, tens of thousands of people, including health workers, bankers and teachers, joined a peaceful civil disobedience movement (CDM), refusing to work until the elected government returned to power. The illegal junta responded with a brutal crackdown on protests by assaulting, arresting and killing activists, journalists, doctors and civilians, drawing condemnation from the United Nations, foreign governments, and rights organisations. This has led to more restricted civic space, and limitations on, or even the absence of, human rights in Burma. 

By April 2021, ousted elected lawmakers, protest leaders, and minority group activists formed a parallel government in exile called the National Unity Government (NUG) to unite people against the junta. The NUG aimed to foster unity among ethnic groups, create a federal democratic Burma, and gain international support. In September, they declared war on the junta and established an armed division called the People’s Defense Force (PDF). Many civilians joined the PDF and took up armed resistance by joining Ethnic Resistance Organisations (EROs). 

In the months that followed the attempted coup, conflict spread nationwide. As the junta gradually lost territorial control to resistance forces, it continued to commit widespread atrocities and increased the use of air/drone strikes to target civilian populations. By the end of 2024, the junta fully controlled only 21% of the country. Four years of conflict, along with the junta’s economic interference, have resulted in the country’s economic collapse, causing inflation and corruption, which are expected to leave about 15 million people facing acute food insecurity in 2025. As of 1 June 2025, there had been at least 54,813 junta attacks against civilians, resulting in at least 14,602 civilian fatalities, and displacing over 3.5 million people. 

The 2008 constitution, often referred to as the “military constitution”, was drafted without civilian input. It reserves 25% of parliamentary seats for the military, in addition to seats won by the military’s USDP proxy party, granting them significant powers and special privileges, thus limiting civic space. Following the 2021 attempted coup, the junta declared a state of emergency for one year in February before extending it every six months. In January 2025, the junta extended the state of emergency for a seventh time. The recent extension of the state of emergency bought the junta time to prepare its sham elections, planned for December 2025 and January 2026. By organising sham elections, the junta hopes to give a veneer of legitimacy to its illegal control over the country. In July 2024, Min Aung Hlaing appointed himself as acting president of Burma, while still maintaining his position of Commander-in-Chief of the junta, which allowed him to exercise broad extra-constitutional powers to suppress civic space through legislation and attempt to uphold the junta’s governance as lawfully legitimate. As the junta prepares for its sham election, it will continuously restrict civic spaces, especially when preparing for polling stations. After the sham elections, the junta will further restrict civic spaces under the guise of a “democratic system”.