Junta’s Handpicked Election Commission Issues Unjust Directive

By Burma Partnership • June 28, 2010

On 21 June, the military regime’s handpicked Union Election Commission issued a directive banning marching, holding flags and chanting during political parties’ campaigning rallies. Parties wishing to hold a public event or speech must seek approval from a local sub-commission at least one week in advance. Speeches and publications must not criticize the Union of Myanmar, the constitution or the Tatmadaw (armed forces), disrupt security and peace, or provoke discussion of racial or religious affairs or individuals. The directive also threatens that action will be taken against those parties who fail to adhere to the new regulations or the Political Parties Registration Law. Read the full directive.

The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) criticized the directive as a violation of human rights. “The ruling side is trying to use this regulation to prevent people, political parties and candidates from expressing their agenda. They don’t want people to know what is the political agenda of other parties,” said ANFREL media officer and political columnist, Bidhayak Das.

This directive is the latest of the military regime’s unjust laws and restrictions on political parties that will make it impossible to campaign freely in these elections. Meanwhile, the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is offering bribes to residents in Puta-O Township in Northern Kachin State in exchange for their vote, with no reprimand from the Union Election Commission. Such outright favoring of pro-junta political parties in both election laws and actions has already led the National League for Democracy (NLD) and other ethnic political parties to refuse to participate in this year’s elections. Further examples of unfair electioneering including adding villagers to USDP members lists without their knowledge, issuing identification cards to Rohingya people in exchange for their vote for the USDP, and the Election Commission’s ongoing failure to approve the Kachin State Progressive Party, make it blatantly clear that these elections will not in any way be free or fair. And yet the US stands alone in its declaration last week that the elections “will not be free or fair and will lack international legitimacy.”

There is already more than enough evidence to show these elections are not an opportunity for democratic progress in Burma. International bodies and governments around the world must publicly denounce these elections for what they are: an undemocratic charade aimed at securing the military’s control behind a new civilian face.

Tags: 2010 Elections, Burma Partnership, Union Election Commission, Union Solidarity and Development Party, US

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Junta’s Handpicked Election Commission Issues Unjust Directive

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