Fugitive controversial monk U Wirathu, wanted for sedition, has surrendered to police after a year-long manhunt. The arrest of the ultranationalist comes less than a week before the general election.

U Wirathu is a founder of the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion (a.k.a. “Ma Ba Tha”), a radical Buddhist faction that has been influential in politics since its inception in 2014. U Wirathu has frequently spoken out against Rakhine Muslims, who self-identify as Rohingya, and in 2013 Time magazine called him “the face of Buddhist terror.” Facebook banned his account for hate speech in 2018, and last he was finally charged with sedition (section 124(a) of the Penal Code) last year for comments made against State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

U Wirathu’s arrest will likely further embroil an already tumultuous general election. Although U Wirathu has always been out of favor of both the National League for Democracy and the global media, he is a champion of far-right, nationalist voters and a staunch supporter of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, the chief rival of the NLD. His arrest will likely make him a martyr among his sympathizers and galvanize their support in the days leading up to the November 8th election.