On February 1, the Myanmar Armed Forces (Tamtadaw) deposed and arrested President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, dissolved the newly elected parliament and declared a state of emergency.
The action taken by the military did not take the international community completely by surprise. In the previous weeks, accusations of fraud by the Armed Forces had fueled fears of an action aimed at neutralizing the civilian component of the government, which emerged stronger from the elections held in November 2020, despite the failures of the previous mandate in terms of reforms, management of the discontent nurtured by the country's ethnic-religious minorities and economic policies.