NLD 'needs a landslide victory'

MILLIONS of Myanmar voters cast votes in an election yesterday that promises to change the country – but many admitted the reality that their dream may not come true this time.

U Khin Maung Aye, a candidate of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), conceded that the popular National League for Democracy (NLD) would win more seats than the government party.

“But unless the NLD wins more than 66.5 per cent of seats in the lower and upper house combined, it cannot set up a government alone,” he said.

The ruling USDP expects to win 40 per cent of seats in the parliament from voters across the entire country. It has less support in Yangon, Mandalay and Bago and expects to win only 20-30 per cent of seats in those regions, he said.

With support from the military quota in parliament – 25 per cent of MPs – plus an alliance of small parties, the USDP could secure 66.5 per cent of both houses to form the government, he said.

“The problem is our government is not very much clean. Our ministers are corrupt and quite unfortunately these corrupt ministers are our party’s members. The people have not very much faith in our party,” said the candidate, a former English-language teacher and journalist from Kamayut township.

Many voters who cast their ballots in Yangon and its suburbs yesterday said they voted for NLD leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Some of them said they voted for the ruling party because the NLD did not have good candidates in their constituencies.

Myint Myint Htay, a shop owner from Bayintnaung township, said she voted for the NLD because she wants to see changes in the country after such a long time under military and quasi-civilian government rule.

“I’m a woman, I’m a mother, I think a woman and a mother like Suu Kyi would understand people like me who want to uplift our living. I have a small shop and hope that if she wins the election her government might do something to help people like me expand our shops,” she said.

When reminded that Suu Kyi is prohibited by the constitution from taking the top job in the government, she said “It is a test of our faith. I’m a Buddhist and I believe in destiny. I know it’s difficult for her, but I still have faith.”

Myanmar people looked active and generally excited to be voting yesterday. At many polling stations, they lined up to cast ballots from 6am, when polling stations opened. Voting booths across the country closed their doors at 4pm.

Onn Than, an election commissioner at Hlaing Ther Yar township, outside Yangon, said he was instructed by the Union Election Commission in Nay Pyi Taw to conduct the poll transparently. He invited journalists inside the station to take a closer look at the ballot casting. “Sometimes people don’t know what to do so officials try to help them, but we don’t intervene in their decision,” he said.

At 8.30am yesterday – two and a half hours after the voting started, European Union observer mission chief Alexander Graf Lambsdorff said no flaws had been reported. But, he said what happened yesterday showed that the government “doesn’t seem to have listened” to the EU’s recommendations.

“What we see here is only one image. This may not be representative of the entire country. Our observers in Chin, Kachin or Mon states may see things that are interesting,” he said, adding that the team visited parts of the country on their own as the Union Election Commission was not in a position to organise trips. The mission will release its preliminary report tomorrow.

Representatives of political parties like the USDP and NLD were seen in polling stations watching as people voted. They told The Nation they would not hesitate to report irregularities.