Suu Kyi was arrested along with several other senior figures from the ruling party following an early morning coup on Monday. The move came after weeks of threatening rhetoric from the military which has vowed to “take action” over alleged irregularities in a November election swept by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).
Suu Kyi, who made international headlines as political prisoner and iconic leader of Myanmar’s democracy movement, came into power after a 2015 landslide election win. In November, the NLD won 83% of available seats, in what was widely regarded as a vote of confidence on the country’s fledgling democratic government.
Although her international star dimmed after her handling of the Rohingya refugee crisis in 2017, she remains hugely popular at home.
Evidence of fraud is scant, but it has not stopped the military from savagely attacking the November 2021, alleging discrepancies such as duplicated names on voting lists in many districts. The military had also been critical of the Union Election Commission (UEC) which has declared the elections were "done fairly and free," and that it could not have been "more transparent."
The UEC had said that the result was final and there would "not be an election re-run". The army had also alleged that early voting showed "errors of neglect" in voter lists and a "widespread violation of laws and procedures".
Ironically enough, the military itself was the architect of Myanmar’s 2008 constitution and democracy. Then, it did not see fit to completely abdicate power to civilian authority, so they instituted a permanent role for itself in the political system. Under Myanmar law, the military gets an unelected quota of 25% of parliamentary seats.
