The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party revolted after an independent commission said its claims of election fraud were unfounded.
Some of the residents of Yangon were doing yoga in the park when the coup happened. Trucks and tanks carrying military personnel rumbled through the streets of Myanmar’s largest city, and the location of what was to be the first meeting of the newly-elected parliament, on Monday. Myanmar’s military, known as the Tatmadaw, announced via its television channel Myawaddy TV that it would be taking control of the country for the next year. The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) had lost the election by a landslide to the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD). As a result, the force cited widespread fraud during the country’s November 2020 elections, claiming there were 8.6 million instances of “voter irregularities.” An independent election commission found no evidence of fraud, the Associated Press reported. On January 26, the USDP gathered an independent election commission to investigate claims of election fraud, but the commission rejected the claims, recertifying the mass NLD win.
