Myanmar political parties kick off election campaigns

2015-09-08

A Myanmar motorcyclist passes the National League for Democracy party's campaign truck in Taunggyi, Shan state, Sept. 8, 2015. AFP

Candidates from Myanmar's political parties kicked off their campaigns on Tuesday during the 60-day run-up to general elections in November, which the opposition pro-democracy party is favored to win.

Members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), including party leader Aung San Suu Kyi, began campaigning in Naypyidaw and Mandalay, while those from the ruling army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) started their campaigns throughout the country.

"The NLD has been trying to build a real federal union for 30 years, but we haven't reached our goal yet," said Aung San Suu Kyi. "We believe that we can win with the support and force of people. The important thing right now is that people have a chance to vote and are able to go to vote on Election Day."

The NLD is fielding more than 1,000 candidates, while the USDP has put forth slightly fewer.

Three NLD candidates who are running for seats in parliament began their campaigns in the capital Naypyidaw where a total of 10 candidates from the party are contesting.

"The NLD wants to win to help people," said Thein Dan of the NLD in Mandalay division. "We can't help people unless we win. The NLD is asking for votes because it is time for a change."

The NLD won elections in 1990 by a landslide, but the military junta ruling Myanmar at the time did not acknowledge the victory and kept Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for decades.

The party boycotted the last general elections in 2010 held during military rule, which were criticized as being rigged in favor of the USDP.

Although the NLD is expected to win the 2015 elections, Aung San Suu Kyi is barred from becoming president because her late husband was a foreign national, as are her two sons.

Candidates from the country's minority group political parties also started campaigning. The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), for example, held a meeting with 160 candidates in Panglong in Shan state.

A total of 1,171 seats are up for grabs with 330 seats in the Lower House, 168 in the upper chamber and 673 in regional legislatures.

A total of 6,189 candidates, 5,866 candidates from 93 political parties and 323 independents will contest in the Nov. 8 elections.

Free and fair?

Myanmar's Union Election Commission (UEC), the body responsible for the polls in the upcoming general elections when parliamentary representatives and a new president will be selected, said the vote would be free and fair.

But recent events raise doubts. Monsoon rains that caused floods and landslides during the last two months may prevent some from getting to the polls to vote.

Furthermore, President Thein Sein's ouster last month of speaker of parliament Shwe Mann as USDP leader has raised questions as to whether the ruling party would be willing to cede power to the NLD should the latter win the elections.

Shwe Mann, who was seen as one of the top candidates for president in the elections, was supportive of Aung San Suu Kyi's efforts to pass a constitutional amendment reducing the power of the military in parliament. The armed forces enjoy the advantage of having one-quarter off all seats in parliament reserved for military lawmakers.

"We have a plan to carry out during the campaign period, and USDP general secretary Tin Naing Thein will give a speech on the radio on September 17," said Tint Zaw of the USDP's Central Executive Committee, but gave no further details about the party's strategy in the run-up to the elections.

In a related development, individual candidate Kyaw Win who is contesting in Naypyidaw, dropped a complaint he had filed against Aung San Suu Kyi, Htet Aung Kyaw, chairman of the UEC in Naypyidaw.

Kyaw Win submitted the complaint because NLD members had delivered brochures with Aung San Suu Kyi's photo on them at the end of August before the official start of the campaign period. The brochures said: "It's time to change. Vote NLD to make changes."

About 32 million people of Myanmar's population of more than 53 million will be eligible to vote as long as their names appear on voter lists, said UEC director Hla Maung Cho.

"You can't vote if your name is not in the list," he said. "If you are on the list, you can come and vote with a driver's license or any other documents that show your ID number. It [the elections] cannot be unfair because we will check the valid documents of people who vote."

Media coverage rules

Information Minister Ye Htut said the UEC also would set the government's policy on election coverage by domestic and foreign media.

"The Information Ministry does only one thing, and that is providing [one-month] visas for foreign journalists who are covering election news, but they have to cover it by following the election commission's rules and regulations as well,' he told RFA.

Journalists from Myanmar's state-owned media and those from international news outlets must sign an agreement to comply with the commission's rules, he said, adding that foreign journalists would not be restricted.

"When they are in this country, we will give them appropriate documents if they need them after discussing [the requests] with the election commission," Ye Htut said. "I would like to urge them to follow election commission's rules and regulations [and] publish fair and correct news as much as they can."

If any journalist breaks any laws or rules while they are reporting, the Information Ministry will not take action against them, but the UEC and Myanmar Press Council will, he added.

"I can say that they [journalists] will have much more media freedom compared to previous elections, but our definition of 'full media freedom' and theirs might be different," he said.

The elections will largely been seen as an indication of where Myanmar is headed in its transformation from an authoritarian nation to a democratic one.

Reported by Win Ko Ko Lat, Zin Mar Win, Khin Khin Ei and Thinn Thiri. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Link to original story on RFA website