Weeks 5 and 6: 2010 Elections Watch (6-19 April)

By Altsean-Burma • April 21, 2010

Developments

The impact of the NLD’s decision to boycott the elections on public confidence in the polls continued to be felt. In a survey involving 520 people in Rangoon, 252 (48%) responded that they do not intend to vote in the election if the NLD does not contest it.
The Arakan League for Democracy decided not to register as a political party. ALD Secretary Aye Thar Aung said the party would not contest the upcoming elections because the SPDC constitution and election laws were “not fair or just.”
To date, 19 political parties have registered for the elections: 16 new parties and three existing political parties.
The SPDC Election Commission announced the formation of 14 sub-commissions at State and Division levels and 67 sub-commissions at the district level. The Commission also held a three-day training in Naypyidaw for 252 officials from the court, immigration, and general administration departments who will be appointed as polling station officials.
A veteran editor at a weekly journal reported that the SPDC Censorship Board was imposing controls on domestic media that were “tighter than ever before.”

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Reactions

One hundred and five MPs from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore endorsed a petition to ASEAN leaders, which called on ASEAN to expel Burma from the group. “With the promulgation of these apparently biased [election] laws […] the regime has forfeited its best opportunity to show willingness to engage in an inclusive process of national reconciliation,” said the petition.
Vietnamese PM Nguyen Tan Dung, in his capacity of Chairman of the ASEAN Summit in Hanoi, said that “[t]he elections should be free and democratic with the participation of all parties involved.”
US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs Kurt Campbell said, “[…] in terms of the election law and our desire to see an internal dialogue between the various stakeholders about the upcoming election […] we are disappointed in the steps that had been taken.”

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This post is in: 2010 Elections