12/16/25, 10:57 AM Myanmar: how the military junta reinforces media crackdown one month before elections | RSF On 28 December 2025, the military junta will begin holding votes in the parts of the country it controls — roughly half of Myanmar’s territory. These general elections, which will continue into January 2026, will be the first since the 2021 coup d’État, after which Myanmar’s generals imposed a policy of brutal repression of the press. In recent weeks, the military junta — listed by RSF as one of the 2025 Press Freedom Predators — has again intensified its crackdown on the media. For the first time, it is resorting to the electoral interference law, a vaguely worded text adopted in July to expand its legislative arsenal ahead of the elections. On 10 November, the military authorities charged the Assistance Association for Myanmar-based Independent Journalists (AAMIJ) — both a media outlet and an association publishing independent reporting on the situation in Myanmar from exile — under Article 24(a) of this law, which punishes “any threat or harm caused to a candidate” with sentences of up to seven years in prison. AAMIJ’s “offence”: having revealed evidence linking an electoral candidate to drug trafficking. “As the polls approach, Myanmar’s military junta is strengthening its policy of information control up to a complete media shutdown. The message is chilling: journalists who seek to freely cover the elections will face harassment, violence, prison and may even be killed. It is time for the international community to step up its pressure on the junta and compel it to end its campaign against independent journalism. Cédric Alviani Director of RSF’s Asia-Pacific Bureau At the end of October, the junta — which severely restricts foreign media access to the country — announced that it would “allow” international journalists to cover the elections. This apparent gesture of openness is, however, accompanied by strict conditions: the military authorities have made clear that election coverage will not be permitted without obtaining official accreditation. The conditions set for the polls have been described as “fraudulent” by UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews, as well as by numerous international experts, notably due https://rsf.org/en/myanmar-how-military-junta-reinforces-media-crackdown-one-month-elections 2/4