Monday, the powerful Burmese army carried out a coup and arrested Aung San Suu Kyi, who is the de facto prime minister, declaring a state of emergency and appointing generals to key posts.

The army said in a statement on the military TV channel that this step is necessary to preserve the "stability" of the state, and pledged to organize "free and fair" elections as soon as the state of emergency is lifted.

The military accuses the electoral commission of failing to address the "massive irregularities" that, he said, occurred during the legislative elections in November, which Aung San Suu Kyi National League for Democracy won by an overwhelming majority.

Early Monday morning, San Suu Kyi, President of the Republic Win Myint, and other officials were arrested, according to a party spokesman, indicating that they are being held in the capital, Naypyidaw.

While rumors circulated in recent days of a possible coup, San Suu Kyi left a message to the people that her party leader posted on social media, urging them to "not accept" the coup.

She wrote that the army is trying to "plunge the country again into a military dictatorship, ignoring the Covid-19 epidemic," calling on the people to "respond with one voice."

After that, the army took control of the municipality building of Rangoon, the country's economic capital, and soldiers cut off the road leading to the international airport, according to AFP journalists. Several trucks drove through the streets of Rangoon, showing supporters of the army waving banners and chanting patriotic anthems.

Monday, the ability to connect to the Internet was largely disrupted, according to a specialized non-governmental organization, and all banks in the country were closed until further notice, according to the Banking Union.

The United States and Australia immediately called for the release of the leaders of the National League for Democracy.

White House spokeswoman Jane Saki warned in a statement that the United States "will take action against those responsible" for the coup.

Australian Foreign Minister Maryse Payne said, "We call on the military to respect the rule of law ... and the immediate release of all civilian leaders and all unlawful detainees."

The Secretary-General of the United Nations "strongly condemned ... the developments that constitute a major blow to the democratic reforms in Burma."

- Frauding "millions" -

These arrests came at a time when the House of Representatives, which resulted from the recent legislative elections, was scheduled to hold its first session within hours.

Myanmar emerged only 10 years ago from a military regime that dominated power for half a century. The last two coups in the country since its independence date back to the years 1962 and 1988.

The army is talking about ten million cases of fraud in the elections and it wants to investigate the matter, and it has asked the Electoral Commission to reveal the voting regulations to verify it.

Concerns escalated when Army Chief General Min Aung Hling, considered the most powerful figure in Myanmar, said the constitution could be "revoked" under certain circumstances.

According to a statement issued by the army, the "legislative, administrative and judicial" powers were in the hands of Min Aung Hling, while General Myint Sui became the interim president.

- "Complicated Relationship" -

Leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party is under heavy international criticism for managing the crisis of the Rohingya Muslims, hundreds of thousands of whom fled in 2017 due to military persecution and sought refuge in neighboring Bangladesh. 

In 2015, the San Sochi party gained an overwhelming majority, but the leader was forced to share power with the army, which controls three main ministries: the interior, defense and borders.

"The relationship between the government and the military is complicated," said the expert from the "Laue Institute" in Australia, Abervé Lumayo, adding that "the hybrid regime, neither totally authoritarian nor completely democratic, collapsed under the weight of these contradictions."

Min Zhao, from the Burmese Institute for Peace and Security, said the country "has made efforts in the past ten years to accelerate reforms ... and this is a major setback" for the democratization process.

After she had been in exile for a long time in England, San Suu Kyi, 75, returned to Myanmar in 1988 and became a symbol of opposition to the military dictatorship.

She spent 15 years under house arrest before the army released her in 2010.