Will Burma's by-elections in April be unbiased?
By Zin Linn,
A work coordination meeting between Union Election Commission (UEC) and respective State/Region and District sub-commissions for holding by-elections to fill up vacant seats in respective parliaments, held at the UEC office in capital Nay-Pyi-Taw Tuesday morning, the New Light of Myanmar reported today.
In his briefing, Chairman of Union Election Commission, U Tin Aye said that to take lesson from the experience gained in previous elections; measures are to be taken to ensure free and fair election in the upcoming by-election. It is also necessary to supervise the political parties in accord with the law, he said.
The junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), led by ex-general Thein Sein, takes hold of 259 seats out of 325 in the House of Representatives, 129 seats out of 168 in the House of Nationalities and 495 seats out of 661 in regional parliament respectively during the last 7 November 2010 polls.
However, the USDP was accused of tampering with advance ballots, and bribing or menacing voters. Spokespersons for the National Democratic Force (NDF), the Democratic Party (Myanmar) and the All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMRDP) alleged that the vote-counting was seriously out of order. Opposition parties said their members had witnessed ballot boxes full of advance votes being brought into polling stations for counting after the polls had closed.
The Asian Network For Free Elections (ANFREL) released a statement dated 9 November 2010 criticizing ballot counting procedures made by the Union Election Commission (UEC). It said the counting process was not made transparent to the public and the media beginning with the first advance voting period.
The complaints about the previous 2010 polls ranged from lack of transparency in vote-counting to no privacy in many of the nation's nearly 40,000 polling booths. Parties also complained of threats from local authorities and forced early voting for the junta's proxy party. Most of the leaders from opposition parties stated unanimously that this election is totally far away from free, fair and openness.
Concerning 2010 election, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who just released from house-arrest, told the BBC, "From what I have heard, there are many, many questions about the fairness of the election, and there were many allegations of vote-rigging, and so on."
On the contrary, during 10 January coordination meeting between UEC and respective State/Region and District sub-commissions for holding by-elections, the UEC chairman added that a systematic measure needs to be adopted to disseminate knowledge about the election to the people and develop check and balance system among the political parties. Election process must be carried out in accordance with the law without any bias and malpractices, said the chairman.
After that, the participants discussed processes of by-election. The coordination meeting came to an end with the concluding remarks by the UEC chairman Tin Aye, a former general.
Critics criticized the previous 2010 voting was rigged and premeditated to protected the supremacy of the military, which has ruled Burma for five decades.
A work coordination meeting between Union Election Commission (UEC) and respective State/Region and District sub-commissions for holding by-elections to fill up vacant seats in respective parliaments, held at the UEC office in capital Nay-Pyi-Taw Tuesday morning, the New Light of Myanmar reported today.
In his briefing, Chairman of Union Election Commission, U Tin Aye said that to take lesson from the experience gained in previous elections; measures are to be taken to ensure free and fair election in the upcoming by-election. It is also necessary to supervise the political parties in accord with the law, he said.
The junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), led by ex-general Thein Sein, takes hold of 259 seats out of 325 in the House of Representatives, 129 seats out of 168 in the House of Nationalities and 495 seats out of 661 in regional parliament respectively during the last 7 November 2010 polls.
However, the USDP was accused of tampering with advance ballots, and bribing or menacing voters. Spokespersons for the National Democratic Force (NDF), the Democratic Party (Myanmar) and the All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMRDP) alleged that the vote-counting was seriously out of order. Opposition parties said their members had witnessed ballot boxes full of advance votes being brought into polling stations for counting after the polls had closed.
The Asian Network For Free Elections (ANFREL) released a statement dated 9 November 2010 criticizing ballot counting procedures made by the Union Election Commission (UEC). It said the counting process was not made transparent to the public and the media beginning with the first advance voting period.
The complaints about the previous 2010 polls ranged from lack of transparency in vote-counting to no privacy in many of the nation's nearly 40,000 polling booths. Parties also complained of threats from local authorities and forced early voting for the junta's proxy party. Most of the leaders from opposition parties stated unanimously that this election is totally far away from free, fair and openness.
Concerning 2010 election, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who just released from house-arrest, told the BBC, "From what I have heard, there are many, many questions about the fairness of the election, and there were many allegations of vote-rigging, and so on."
On the contrary, during 10 January coordination meeting between UEC and respective State/Region and District sub-commissions for holding by-elections, the UEC chairman added that a systematic measure needs to be adopted to disseminate knowledge about the election to the people and develop check and balance system among the political parties. Election process must be carried out in accordance with the law without any bias and malpractices, said the chairman.
After that, the participants discussed processes of by-election. The coordination meeting came to an end with the concluding remarks by the UEC chairman Tin Aye, a former general.
Critics criticized the previous 2010 voting was rigged and premeditated to protected the supremacy of the military, which has ruled Burma for five decades.
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