The six-month extension is intended to buy time for the military’s long-promised election, but conditions in the country are not propitious.

Myanmar’s military government has announced another six-month extension of its mandate to rule in preparation for elections it has said will be held this year, as the country enters its fifth year of crisis.

Myanmar's ruling military has extended a state of emergency for another six months, state media reported on Friday, a day ahead of the four-year anniversary of a coup that plunged the country into chaos after a decade of tentative democracy.