Skip to content Skip to footer

Biden Condemns Burma Military Coup, as Critics Question Claims of Election Fraud

Biden suggested he might issue sanctions on the country if democratically elected officials weren’t returned to power.

NLD supporter holds up a picture of leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a protest against the military coup in Burma (also known as Myanmar) outside its embassy in Thailand on February 1, 2021, in Bangkok, Thailand.

President Joe Biden sent out a stern statement voicing consternation toward a military coup in Burma this week, threatening economic sanctions to the country if it did not return power to the duly elected government that was recently chosen by its people.

The coup in Burma (also known as Myanmar) happened early on Monday morning (Sunday evening in the United States). The nation’s military arrested civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and announced that there would be a one-year state of emergency. The announcement, which was broadcast on state television Monday, means the power of the government will be transferred to the nation’s top general, Min Aung Hlaing, during that time, and perhaps longer.

The White House sent out a message on Sunday evening decrying the military takeover of the southeast Asian country.

“We continue to affirm our strong support for Burma’s democratic institutions and, in coordination with our regional partners, urge the military and all other parties to adhere to democratic norms and the rule of law, and to release those detained today,” a statement from Press Secretary Jen Psaki read.

Psaki added that “any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections or impede Myanmar’s democratic transition” would result in the U.S. taking “action against those responsible.”

Biden himself laid out some idea of what those actions could look like, making reference to economic penalties that had been removed from the country over the past several years.

“The United States removed sanctions on Burma over the past decade based on progress toward democracy,” Biden said in a statement. “The reversal of that progress will necessitate an immediate review of our sanction laws and authorities, followed by appropriate action.”

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who, since becoming leader of her nation, has also been accused of being complicit in her country’s military genocide on Rohingya Muslims, recently had a major electoral victory, as her political party, National League for Democracy, had won 396 seats out of 476 in the national legislature. By comparison, the military-backed party only won 33 seats.

The Burmese military announced the coup after making claims of election fraud following the outcome of those races. Burma’s election commission had dismissed those claims as baseless last week.

The claims of election fraud in order to justify overthrowing the election results mirrors, in some ways, the same type of rhetoric that former President Donald Trump had been using in the months leading up to and on the same day that a mob of his loyalists violently stormed the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., early last month. Indeed, as Washington Post columnist Brian Klaas explained on Monday, it is possible the military in Burma copied Trump’s false claims of fraud to serve their own purposes.

“A friend who lives in Yangon texted me saying that the generals were likely emboldened by Trump’s playbook, as they used false claims of widespread election fraud as a pretext to seize power,” Klaas, who is also an associate professor in Global Politics at University College London, said in a tweet.

Angry, shocked, overwhelmed? Take action: Support independent media.

We’ve borne witness to a chaotic first few months in Trump’s presidency.

Over the last months, each executive order has delivered shock and bewilderment — a core part of a strategy to make the right-wing turn feel inevitable and overwhelming. But, as organizer Sandra Avalos implored us to remember in Truthout last November, “Together, we are more powerful than Trump.”

Indeed, the Trump administration is pushing through executive orders, but — as we’ve reported at Truthout — many are in legal limbo and face court challenges from unions and civil rights groups. Efforts to quash anti-racist teaching and DEI programs are stalled by education faculty, staff, and students refusing to comply. And communities across the country are coming together to raise the alarm on ICE raids, inform neighbors of their civil rights, and protect each other in moving shows of solidarity.

It will be a long fight ahead. And as nonprofit movement media, Truthout plans to be there documenting and uplifting resistance.

As we undertake this life-sustaining work, we appeal for your support. Please, if you find value in what we do, join our community of sustainers by making a monthly or one-time gift.