Election fever as big day draws nearer

POSTERS, T-shirts, pamphlets and hats are all being produced rapidly ahead of tomorrow, when political parties are allowed to kick off their official election campaigns.

“Brochures have been printed and we have finished making hats and T-shirts. We are preparing to put up posters and billboards,” said Sandar Min, a candidate of the National League for Democracy for the Seikkyi Kanaungto constituency in Yangon Region.

Sai Thiha Kyaw, the NLD candidate for Mongyai, Shan State, said that the campaign timetable has been drawn up and the party membership is being extended.

All parties and their candidates reportedly prepared their best acts for the November 8 election. The police have drawn up the security plan for popular political figures, 43 in total, such as President Thein Sein, NLD chairperson Aung San Suu Kyi, lower House speaker Thura Shwe Mann. 

 

“Making history”

The Union Election Commis-sion has announced rules and regulations, while its chairman Tin Aye promised a free and fair election. At a press conference last week, he said all international observers would be welcomed as Myanmar is “making a history”. The UEC also urged people to lodge a complaint if government cabinet members use state property and funds while conducting their election campaigns. 

Two vice-presidents, union ministers, deputy ministers, parliament speakers, region and state chief ministers will stand as candidates representing the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party.

“For instance, if a cabinet member comes to Yangon for work, he can use a state-owned car. But if he goes to Thanlyin in the same car for his campaign purpose, he would violate the election law,” said Win Ko, a member of the UEC.

Altogether, 6,189 candidates have registered for the election, representing 92 political parties. They include 323 independent candidates. Among them, 800 are female; 122 have nominated for the upper House; 228 for the lower House; and 454 for regional and state seats, according to the UEC. 

In the previous election in 2010, when the number of candidates was about 3,000, 101 were female and 45 of them were elected. 

The NLD submitted the highest number of female candidates, 168, followed by USDP which nominated 72 females. With 53 female MPs currently in Myanmar’s parliaments, female participation accounts for 5 per cent in the lower House, for 2.6 per cent in upper House and for 2 per cent in regional parliaments.

The NLD proposed 1,138 candidates and seven were disqualified. Some candidate registrations were rejected because they are |too young, others had not lived |in Myanmar for 10 consecutive years and some were associated with blacklisted organisations. |The rejected NLD candidates are from the Shan, Kayah, Rakhine, Kachin states and the Mandalay Region.

“We will appeal to the union commission,” said NLD’s spokesperson Nyan Win. “I don’t know whether it’s dishonest or not. For example, we now have one candidate rejected because of his age at 29. What about other parties? I will see whether it’s fair or not. We don’t blame others about it.”

Widely expected to secure a landslide victory, the NLD has so far reported some irregularities.

On September 2, its branch office in Zabuthiri Township, Nay Pyi Taw, was broken in to. Nyi Nyi Shwe, secretary of the party branch in Taunggyi, Shan State, was arrested under section 406 of the Penal Code relating to fraud involving his wife. The arrest was ahead of Suu Kyi’s scheduled visit to the state on September 5-6.

Chairman Tin Maung Toe of Taunggyi NLD said: “It is an ugly situation. It almost seems like a lawless act. Nyi Nyi Shwe is not a common criminal and does not deserve to be arrested like one. As the election nears, such cases are starting to appear. I believe the objective is to intimidate the NLD.”