Week 20: 2010 Election Watch (20-26 July)

By Altsean-Burma • July 28, 2010

Developments

The Union Solidarity and Development Party gave the Unity and Democracy Party of Kachin State 50 million kyat (US$52,814) as a start-up election fund.
Union Democracy Party Chairman Phyo Min Thein and a Chin party official said that the Union Solidarity and Development Party was using local SPDC officials to recruit members in Rangoon Division and Chin State.
SPDC Deputy Minister of Education Aung Myo Min encouraged more than 2,000 teachers and students at the University of Foreign Languages in Rangoon to cast votes for junta-sponsored parties.
The SPDC Censorship Board suspended the publication of the Voice journal for two weeks for publishing an article that said the SPDC’s 2008 constitution was “hard to explain to Burmese.”
The People’s New Society Party filed registration papers to participate in the upcoming elections. To date, a total of 45 parties – 40 new parties and five existing parties – have filed registration applications.

For more developments click here

Reactions

At the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Hanoi, ASEAN leaders sounded off on the elections.

ASEAN Sec-Gen Surin Pitsuwan said it was “crucial to the region, to ASEAN itself, and to Myanmar itself that the elections are credible.”
Indonesian FM Marty Natalegawa said that ASEAN was “keen to ensure the election is […] a free, fair, democratic and inclusive one.”
ASEAN Ministerial Meeting Spokesman Tran Ngoc An said that the ASEAN Ministers “stressed the importance of national reconciliation in Myanmar and a free and fair election with the participation of all parties in order to contribute to the stability and development of Myanmar.”

For more reactions click here

This post is in: 2010 Elections