Many wonder why the coup has happened now. The National League for Democracy had been demilitarizing sectors where the military's business interests were. The laws created brought a lot of investment and competition to their businesses.
The first National League for Democracy government (2015-2020) was reluctant to directly or decisively target the interests of the military, although its opening of key sectors to competition and investment acted as counterweight.
It was intent on tackling the country’s deep-grained corruption in government–business relations, but with weak impact on the businesses owned by the military.
However, in November 2018 a National League for Democracy spokesperson pointed to the military domination of key parts of the economy and stated that the government bureaucracy – historically dominated by retired military personnel – was a major stumbling block to progress and would be an important target for reform after the 2020 election.
Source: aisatimes.com