Myanmar govt leaders detained, military declares state of emergency for 1 year

YANGON - The Myanmar military said on Monday that new elections will be held after the end of a one-year state of emergency, and it will returned the state power to the new government.

Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and other senior officials have been detained by the military, Myo Nyunt, spokesperson of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), told Xinhua.

"I received internal reports about our state counsellor and president being taken by the military. As far as I was informed, Shan State's Planning and Finance Minister U Soe Nyunt Lwin, Kayah state's NLD chairman Thaung Htay and some NLD representatives of the Ayeyarwady region's parliament have been detained," the spokesperson said.

"Two members of Central Executive Committee of the party were taken and I am also waiting to be detained as I was informed by our members that my turn will come shortly," he said.

The Myanmar President's Office declared a state of emergency which will last for one year.

The declaration signed by First Vice President U Myint Swe, who is serving as the acting president, was announced on the military-owned Myawaddy TV.

The state power will be handed over to Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services Min Aung Hlaing, the TV said in a statement.

"The President shall declare the transferring of legislative, executive and judicial powers of the Union to the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services to enable him to carry out necessary measures to speedily restore its original situation in the Union," the Section 418 (a) of the Constitution said.

The legislative functions of all parliaments and leading bodies will be suspended from the day of declaration, it said.

According to reports, the Myanmar military have taken control of multiple governments and parliaments in many parts of Myanmar. Telecommunications in capital city of Nay Pyi Taw and some other regions and states had also been cut off.

In Myanmar's largest city of Yangon, the city hall building has been controlled by the military, and military personnel could be seen sitting inside the gate holding guns. On Yangon streets, Xinhua reporters could see that locals were generally calm and some of them were talking about the detention.

The state-run Radio and Television (MRTV) said on its social media that it was no longer working on Monday morning.

The military said that there was massive voting fraud in the parliamentary elections in November last year, and demanded postponement of new parliamentary sessions. The Union Election Commission last week dismissed the allegations.

The first regular session of the new parliament sessions was scheduled to begin with convening the House of Representatives on Monday, the House of Nationalities on Tuesday and the Union Parliamentary session on Feb. 5.

The upcoming parliamentary sessions will elect speakers for both houses of the parliament, form parliamentary committees, and elect the president and vice presidents of Myanmar.

Myanmar held multi-party general elections on Nov. 8 last year and the ruling NLD won the majority of seats in both houses of the Union Parliament.