ႏုိဝင္ဘာလ(၇)ရက္ေန.ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲသည္တုိင္းရင္းသားမ်ား၏မဲေပးပုိင္ခြင့္ကုိလ်စ္လွ်ဴရွဴးထား
Asian Correspondent - Burma's 7-November Polls Ignore Ethnic Voters' Rights
Oct. 01 2010 - 06:54 pm
By - Zin Linn
In September, Burma's Union Election Commission (UEC) has announced “areas
where elections will not be held,” saying the constituencies are “in no
position to host free and fair elections.” According to UEC, the said areas are
in Kachin, Karen, Karenni (Kayah), Mon and Shan states.It means more than two
millions ethnic voters have to abandon their voting rights.
In total, there are over 300 village tracts and four townships that will not be
permitted to take part in the upcoming elections. The commission did not give
explanation about why the constituencies do not qualify to provide an
observable “free and fair” election. As those areas are home of the ethnic
people, the junta must arrange to have equal status of opinion poll to the
respective citizens. The UEC announcement will cause divergence among the
ethnic people due to inequality.
On August 30 the UEC closed enlisting of candidates from political parties to
contest in the election.
According to the Union Election Commission, the junta-backed Union Solidarity
and Development Party (USDP), led by Prime Minister Thein Sein, is fielding
1,163 candidates, pro-junta National Unity Party (NUP) 994, a splinter faction
from the NLD - National Democratic Force (NDF) 164, Shan Nationals Democratic
Party (SNDP) 157, Democratic Party Myanmar (DPM) 49, the Rakhine Nationalities
Development Party (RNDP) 45, Chin Progressive Party (CPP) 39 and the All Mon
Region Democracy Party (AMRDP) 35.
In comparison, all the democratic political parties can contest just around 500
seats in this parliament, while two pro-junta parties are ready to run for all
seats. But, the incoming parliament has no power to form a cabinet. Even
though, upcoming parliaments have no effective power to run the country but to
support the President’s decisions. Cabinet shaping power is in the hand of the
President who will be definitely a handpicked by the military council. So, the
military-backed President will become the decision-maker of the country. The
President will designate the Ministries of the Union Government as necessary and
make change and additions to the cabinet.
In this arrangement, it is obvious military breaks its own promise of just
taking 25 percent of the parliamentary seats. The scenario looks like the
military will takes the 85 percent or lion’s share of the total seats. Then, in
such a parliament, ethnic representatives-elect have no chance to ask for
self-sufficiency or equal status in political power. Authentic ethnic
representatives, who willing to have a considerable political space, may not
occupy enough seats in the new parliament, in stead more pro-military ethic
representatives are likely to gain more seats. And the President will not allow
them to talk on issues of ethnic self-government. Yet, all the cabinet members
for states, divisions and special regions will be appointed by the President.
Hence, several ethnic leaders asserted that they don't have faith in the
planned 2010 election where they could have little space. For, it will not
create a real peaceful federal union as the Burmese armed-forces take not only
25 percent of all seats but also seize additional 50 percent via junta-backed
party in the upcoming parliaments as set by the 2008 Constitution.
To sum up, without honoring the ethnic people’s political aspiration revealed
since 1947, the junta’s premeditated voting cannot afford to stop the political
and civil strife throughout the country. The nation will certainly be plunged
into a fearful catastrophe due to negligence of national reconciliation and
ethnic self-determination aftermath of the planned polls.
where elections will not be held,” saying the constituencies are “in no
position to host free and fair elections.” According to UEC, the said areas are
in Kachin, Karen, Karenni (Kayah), Mon and Shan states.It means more than two
millions ethnic voters have to abandon their voting rights.
In total, there are over 300 village tracts and four townships that will not be
permitted to take part in the upcoming elections. The commission did not give
explanation about why the constituencies do not qualify to provide an
observable “free and fair” election. As those areas are home of the ethnic
people, the junta must arrange to have equal status of opinion poll to the
respective citizens. The UEC announcement will cause divergence among the
ethnic people due to inequality.
On August 30 the UEC closed enlisting of candidates from political parties to
contest in the election.
According to the Union Election Commission, the junta-backed Union Solidarity
and Development Party (USDP), led by Prime Minister Thein Sein, is fielding
1,163 candidates, pro-junta National Unity Party (NUP) 994, a splinter faction
from the NLD - National Democratic Force (NDF) 164, Shan Nationals Democratic
Party (SNDP) 157, Democratic Party Myanmar (DPM) 49, the Rakhine Nationalities
Development Party (RNDP) 45, Chin Progressive Party (CPP) 39 and the All Mon
Region Democracy Party (AMRDP) 35.
In comparison, all the democratic political parties can contest just around 500
seats in this parliament, while two pro-junta parties are ready to run for all
seats. But, the incoming parliament has no power to form a cabinet. Even
though, upcoming parliaments have no effective power to run the country but to
support the President’s decisions. Cabinet shaping power is in the hand of the
President who will be definitely a handpicked by the military council. So, the
military-backed President will become the decision-maker of the country. The
President will designate the Ministries of the Union Government as necessary and
make change and additions to the cabinet.
In this arrangement, it is obvious military breaks its own promise of just
taking 25 percent of the parliamentary seats. The scenario looks like the
military will takes the 85 percent or lion’s share of the total seats. Then, in
such a parliament, ethnic representatives-elect have no chance to ask for
self-sufficiency or equal status in political power. Authentic ethnic
representatives, who willing to have a considerable political space, may not
occupy enough seats in the new parliament, in stead more pro-military ethic
representatives are likely to gain more seats. And the President will not allow
them to talk on issues of ethnic self-government. Yet, all the cabinet members
for states, divisions and special regions will be appointed by the President.
Hence, several ethnic leaders asserted that they don't have faith in the
planned 2010 election where they could have little space. For, it will not
create a real peaceful federal union as the Burmese armed-forces take not only
25 percent of all seats but also seize additional 50 percent via junta-backed
party in the upcoming parliaments as set by the 2008 Constitution.
To sum up, without honoring the ethnic people’s political aspiration revealed
since 1947, the junta’s premeditated voting cannot afford to stop the political
and civil strife throughout the country. The nation will certainly be plunged
into a fearful catastrophe due to negligence of national reconciliation and
ethnic self-determination aftermath of the planned polls.
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