Aung San Suu Kyi, former
leader of Myanmar and Nobel Peace Prize awardee, was charged with election
fraud during the 2020 polls by the military junta that seized power last year
after ousting Suu Kyi. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party had won the elections by a
landslide.

The 76-year-old
leader of global renown was charged with “election fraud and lawless actions”,
according to a report in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar.

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The report said
that the junta alleged that Aung San Suu Kyi violated 16 electoral laws, including
over military polling booths, advance voting for people above 60 years of age
and getting the names of people who had “no right to cast votes on the ballot”.
However, it did not contain details of when the court proceedings will begin.

Along with Suu
Kyi, 15 other officials also face the same charge. The officials include former
Myanmar president Win Myint and the country’s election commission chairman, as
per the report.

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A military coup in
February
this year sent Myanmar into turmoil sparking protests nationwide and
the army’s crackdown on dissent. Following the coup, the military arrested Aung
San Suu Kyi and has since made several allegations against the leader, including
importing walkie talkies, sedition and corruption. Suu Kyi faces decades in
prison if she is convicted.

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Additionally, the
once charter of Myanmar’s transition from a military junta to a partial
democracy is also charged with flouting coronavirus restrictions while campaigning
for the National League for Democracy (NLD) party in 2020. The NLD emphatically
defeated its chief contender, a party with close ties to the military.

While international
political observers say that the 2020 elections were largely free and fair, the
military and the military-backed party made serious allegations against the
election process. The junta threatened to dissolve Aung San Suu Kyi’s party the
NLD and has imprisoned Suu Kyi’s close aide Win Htein since last month on
treason charges.

The Myanmar junta’s bloody
coup has left 1,250 people dead and over 10,000 people in jails, according to a
local monitoring group.