New Delhi: Myanmar’s state-owned television has reported that the electoral commission, controlled by the junta, has declared that the party led by the jailed leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be dissolved as it did not comply with the new electoral law and failed to re-register.On January 26 this year, the military gave political parties a two-month deadline – which expired on Tuesday, March 28 – to register with the Election Commission.At the end of the deadline, Myawaddy TV said in an evening bulletin on Tuesday that the National League for Democracy (NLD) was among 40 political parties that had failed to register with the state-controlled Election Commission. As per the new election law, any party which doesn’t register gets automatically dissolved.The United Nations expressed concern about the developments. “I think this is another step in the direction that we would not like to be going into,” said the UN secretary general’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric. “We want to see a return to democracy in Myanmar. We would like to see the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other people who continue to be detained, and we will continue to work towards that”.NLD had won over 80% of the parliamentary seats in the November 2020 general elections. But, the military disputed the results on grounds of irregularities, even though international observers had stated that the elections had been relatively free and fair.On February 1, 2021, the junta staged a coup, detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and other political leaders, which threw the country into violent chaos. After a series of politically motivated prosecutions, Suu Kyi is currently serving prison sentences which in total amount to 33 years. Her colleagues in the NLD have formed a government in exile, called the National Unity Government of Myanmar.After the January announcement of registration for elections, the NLD had already announced that it would not participate. “We absolutely do not accept that an election will be held at a time when many political leaders and political activists have been arrested and the people are being tortured by the military,” Bo Bo Oo, one of the elected lawmakers from Suu Kyi’s party, as per agencies.In February this year, the military junta announced a six-month extension to the state of emergency, which led to speculation that elections could be held in July. But, there is likely to be at least one more six-month extension, as per reports.According to the International Crisis Group (ICG), elections are unlikely to take place before November 2023, and possibly not until January 2024.“Considering it won 79% and 82% of the elected seats in the last two general elections, the NLD’s participation is a fundamental requirement for credible polls in Myanmar,” said a new ICG report, released on March 28.With the new law putting “onerous” qualifications for political parties, the number of political parties will fall drastically from 92 in pre-coup Myanmar.The think-tank warned that even if the Junta held elections, it would likely be “the most violent in Myanmar’s recent history”.While the military regime will “ratchet” up pressure on political parties and voters to participate in the elections and increase troop presence on the ground, the polls will also be “a target for resistance forces born as a result of the coup, some of which have already staged attacks”.