The announcement and what the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services said in relation to the election are accorded with the constitution and not telling the truth will not provide assistance to stability and it will worsen the matters, said Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun from Tatmadaw True News Information Team.

Zaw Htay, Spokesperson of President Office said during a special press briefing held at President House on November 4 that the army’s announcement in related with the election seemed to make instability over election and what the Commander-in-Chief said to Popular News Journal is not accorded with the essence of the constitution and laws.

“The main thing what they said is what our saying is not accorded with the constitution. They need to study the constitution carefully. The foundation and the essence of the 2008 Constitution are basic principles included in Chapter 1. There are 48 sections in Chapter 1. Section 6 (f) of the 2008 Constitution enacted to enable the Defence Services to be able to participate in the National political leadership role of the State. Section 20 (e) and (f) of the constitution says “The Defence Services is mainly responsible for safeguarding the non-disintegration of the Union, the non-disintegration of National solidarity and the perpetuation of sovereignty and the Defence Services is mainly responsible for safeguarding the Constitution''. The army’s announcement and what the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services said are the conditions that are experiencing here. It is not politics matters and only for national interest. The army needs to participate in the National political leadership role of the State. Nothing is plotted. We have to say to people who are doing matters which are not accorded with the constitution. We are safeguarding the constitution. So what we are doing is in accordance with the constitution,” he said.

He continued that what the clarification of the President Office about the army’s announcement is based on the inaccurate saying of some political parties and people is that the truth will only be said by their people.

“We are saying it based on the facts gathered from representatives of the political parties, media and independent observer groups,” he said.

“There is no incitement included. We are talking about the organization directly related. We cannot be quiet over the truth and it cannot be provided assistance to stability. We are moving towards a multi-party democracy system. We have to say about unfairness if it is not in line with the essence of democracy,” he said.

He said whoever doing the national interest needs to speak out the truth in relation to the clarification included in the press briefing held at the President Office about the enactment of the constitution which said the service personnel need to be freed from politics. In the Civil Service Personnel Law, service personnel are a civil servant appointed to any post contained in the formation of any service personnel organization. In this expression, Defense Services Personnel and members of the Police Force are not included for the matter of this law.