The Norwegian lawmaker behind the nomination revealed on Tuesday, the anniversary of the military coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi, that Myanmar’s self-proclaimed shadow government had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022.
“I have nominated Myanmar’s ‘National Unity Government’ for the Nobel Peace Prize. It’s the only legitimate government in Myanmar”, Ola Elvestuen, a member of parliament for the small Liberal Party, told AFP.
The National Unity Administration (NUG), which claims to be the country’s legitimate government, was created in April and is made up of dissident parliamentarians in hiding or exile, many of them are from the party of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The junta had seized power several months earlier, on February 1, by alleging huge fraud during elections in late 2020, which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy had won by a landslide.
Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, has been held under house arrest in a secret location since the coup, which ended the country’s brief democratic period.
The country has been thrown into anarchy as a result of the coup.
According to a local relief organization, security forces have killed around 1,500 civilians, and “people’s defense forces” have taken up arms against the military across the country.
On the first anniversary of the coup, activists called for silent protests on Tuesday. Elvestuen stated that the NUG has “democratic legitimacy.”
