The revolutionary forces of Karenni State issued a joint statement on January 28th that they will fight with all their might against the elections planned to be held by the Military Council this year.

Local revolutionary forces, the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) and the People’s Defense Forces - Demoso (DMO-PDF) jointly announced:

“They (the Military Council) staged a coup without accepting the results of the last election. Now after the coup, they are trying to hold elections again. We are sure that real politicians and political parties, as well as parties that serve the public, will not be able to participate in the election that will be manipulated by them.

So wherever the Military Council is planning to hold elections in Karenni State, we urge the public not to cooperate with the election-related process”, a spokesperson of KNDF He proclaimed , “ we will not allow a sham election to be held in Karenni State. It will not represent the true will of the people. We will oppose all election- related processes together.”

In some areas of Loikaw, Bawlakhe, Hpasawng townships in Karenni State, where the Military Council’s administration is still operating, some government staff have started conducting pre-election censuses this month.

In the joint statement of KNDF and DMO-PDF urged that the public should respect and follow.

“The bottom line is not to get involved in any election-related efforts or activities planned by the Military Council. If you get involved in these matters, you will have to face the reaction of the revolutionary organizations according to their principles. The most important thing is that everyone should respect and follow the exhortations in the statement”, the KNDF spokesperson added.

The joint statement of the Karenni resistance forces highlights the following 4 main points.

• To refuse to cooperate with the Military Council’s pre-election preparations such as house-to-house population census, pre-voting, organizing speeches and other activities
• Not to participate and contest in the election as an individual, group (or) a political party at all
• Not to cooperate in all election-related processes that are prohibited in the entire Karenni State
• To understand that the revolutionary forces will take actions in accordance with their code of conduct, if any efforts to facilitate the election are committed.

The Military Council illegally seized power on February 1st, 2021, alleging there were vote riggings in the last election. The joint statement of Karenni resistance forces denounces this intended election in2023 as a hypocritical attempt to prolong the reign of military dictatorship.