Be prepared for distractions ahead of elections: Suu Kyi

National League for Democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi warned her party’s members to be prepared for attempts to sow confusion and create distractions in the run up next year’s  general election, urging them to remain focused on the two key issues she said would determine whether or not the vote would be a genuine step towards democracy.

The two critical issues are attempts to rejig the electoral system to one that favours the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party and amending the Constitution so that it ends the military’s de facto veto over changing the charter it drafted in 2008, which effectively prevents Suu Kyi from becoming president, she said.

“Beware of issues that could distract us from these matters,” she told NLD members from three townships who were visiting Parliament in Nay Pyi Taw on October 27. “Issues that could distract the people from these matters may arise. Beware of them,” she reiterated.

She called on NLD members to clearly explain the party’s stand on electoral reform and amending the charter to the public.  “The future of a country is based on its constitution. A real democracy needs a genuine electoral system,” she stressed.

She was referring to the effort to switch from an electoral system in which only candidates who win the most votes in a constituency are elected to Parliament to a proportional representation system that would see seats allocated based on the proportion of votes a party receives.  Four variants of this system are currently being examined by a parliamentary committee, while there are also suggestions that this system could be used for one of the two Houses of Parliament. To complicate matters further, an idea has been floated that the system could be used in regional parliaments, but not in state ones.

Suu Kyi stressed that the NLD – which swept the by-elections held in 2012, taking almost all of the 45 constituencies up for grabs – remained firm on its policy that the electoral system must not be changed without the people’s consent. “There is no reason to [change the electoral system], and it is undemocratic to make such a change when there have been no calls from the public to do so and no effort to seek their consent,” she added.  “The people should play a key role in selecting an electoral system,” she stressed.

If voters are prevented from directly elect the representatives they want the result will be a “flawed democracy”, Suu Kyi said.  

She noted that Parliament is now debating the electoral system and that discussions on amending the Constitution would follow. She urged party members to raise these issues in their communities to ensure that the public was aware of them and engaged in the process.

NLD member are responsible for ensuring people are aware of these issues and they must clearly explain these issues and their importance in the country’s transition from authoritarian rule to democracy, she said.

She reminded NLD members of the success of their effort to put public support at the core of its effort to amend the Constitution, noting that the campaign gathered 5 million signatures nationwide. “Even democratic countries were astonished to hear that 5 million people signed [the petition to amend the charter]," she said.

Suu Kyi also listed the necessary ingredients for a genuine democratic election. First, every eligible voter should cast a ballot. Second, the election must be transparent. Third, it must be free. Fourth, it must be fair. “If this kind of election takes place, we can ensure it's a real democratic election,” she said.

People create democracy, she said. “The people's voice should be Parliament’s voice. Everybody should beware of that. Our party must convey this clearly to the people,” Suu Kyi said.