Myanmar’s military government ended its state of emergency on Thursday (Jul 31), ramping up plans for a December election that opposition groups pledged to boycott and monitors said will be used to consolidate the military’s power.

The military declared a state of emergency in February 2021 as it deposed the civilian government of democratic leader 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 including ex-lawmakers ousted in the coup have pledged to snub the poll, which a UN expert last month dismissed as “a fraud” designed to legitimise the military’s continuing rule.

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The junta seized power making unsubstantiated claims of fraud in a 2020 election Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won in a landslide, and she remains jailed alongside their other top leaders.

An order signed by Min Aung Hlaing cancelled the emergency rule which handed power to him as the armed forces chief, returning it to the head of state.

However Min Aung Hlaing also occupies that office as the country’s acting president.

“We have already passed the first chapter,” Min Aung Hlaing said in a speech in Naypyidaw reported in state newspaper The Global New Light of Myanmar on Thursday.

“Now, we are starting the second chapter,” he told members of the junta’s administration council.

No exact date has been set for the poll, but Min Aung Hlaing confirmed it would take place in December, The Global New Light of Myanmar said.

“Due to the security situation in the country, we will also hold the upcoming election in phases depending on security and management,” he said, according to remarks paraphrased on state TV.