Myanmar Junta Lifts Emergency Rule, Calls for December Vote

Myanmar’s military leadership lifted a state of emergency more than four years after it took power in a coup, a necessary step for holding elections slated to be held later this year.

The decision, announced by the junta Thursday after a meeting of the National Defense and Security Council, comes as civil war engulfs the Southeast Asian nation. Under Myanmar’s 2008 Constitution, emergency rules must be lifted before elections can be held, which the junta has pledged to do in December.