A Road to Nowhere: The Myanmar Regime’s Stage-managed Elections

 

 

 28 March 2023

Two years after carrying out a coup, Myanmar’s generals are planning elections to entrench their role in politics. Amid the widespread resistance to their regime, the polls are bound to intensify armed conflict. Yet there are several ways to keep electoral violence to a minimum. 

What’s new? The military regime in Myanmar has started laying the groundwork for elections, passing a new party registration law and updating the voter list. But with most of the country engulfed in civil war, and most citizens opposed to the exercise, no regime-run vote can be credible.

UN expert slams upcoming 'fraud' election in Myanmar

 

By AFP
Published: September 23, 2022

The junta is looking 'to create the sense of legitimacy and inevitability,' says Thomas Andrews, UN's special rapporteur

  UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar Tom Andrews gives a press conference during the 51th Human Rights Council in Geneva on Sept. 22. (Photo: AFP)

A UN expert on Thursday dismissed as fraudulent an upcoming election in Myanmar, accusing the junta of looking for a veneer of legitimacy and rebuking the international community for not doing enough to challenge the regime.

"The junta is preparing for what it describes as an election," Thomas Andrews, the UN's special rapporteur on the rights situation in Myanmar, told reporters in Geneva.

"This is not going to be an election. It is a fraud."

Myanmar's military seized power and toppled the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.

The country has been in turmoil ever since, with fighting across swathes of the country and the economy in tatters even as the junta says it plans to hold fresh polls next August.

Will Supplementary Elections Be Held in Myanmar’s Rakhine State?

THE I DIPLOMAT 

Sebastian Strangio
January 11, 2021

The Tatmadaw and Arakan Army are both in favor, but the ruling National League for Democracy remains hesitant.

Last week, Myanmar’s military issued a statement again calling for supplementary elections to be held in areas of Rakhine State where recent national elections were canceled due to an ongoing conflict.

During the November 8 election, around 1.2 million voters in the war-torn region were unable to cast their ballots after the Union Election Commission (UEC) cancelled voting in many townships on security grounds. Voting was also cancelled in parts of Shan and Kachin states.

The Myanmar army, or Tatmadaw, said in its statement that elections should be held before newly-elected lawmakers are sworn at the beginning of February.

The military’s call follows two months of encouraging progress in efforts to resolve the conflict between the military and the insurgent Arakan Army (AA), which has raged in Rakhine State since 2018, during which time hundreds have been killed and injured and some 226,000 people have been forced from their homes.

Amid Fragile Ceasefire, Frustration Over Missed Election in Myanmar’s Rakhine State

Radio Free Asia ( RFA ) 

2020-12-31 

People wearing face shields and face masks to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus queue to vote at a polling station in Rakhine state, Nov. 8, 2020.

 

Rakhine’s ethnic army and politicians blamed Myanmar’s ruling party and electoral authorities Thursday for the failure to hold elections in the war-torn state, as analysts warned that holding a vote will be critical to keeping a fragile ceasefire going into 2021.

After a violent 2020 in Myanmar’s westernmost state, Rakhine residents were largely left out of voting in Nov. 8 general elections, with only a quarter of the state’s registered voters able to go to polls after authorities scrapped the election, citing security concerns.

Ceasefire Raises Hopes of Elections in Myanmar’s Rakhine State

THE I DIPLOMAT 

Sebastian Strangio
December 07, 2020

The most important obstacle – a ceasefire – is now in place, but many more challenges remain.

One least heralded developments to have taken place in Myanmar since the country’s election on November 8 is the lull in fighting in Rakhine State in the west of the country. Until last month, fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA), which is fighting for greater autonomy from the central government, had raged in Rakhine since 2018. During that time, it had killed or injured hundreds and forced some 226,000 people to flee their homes.

Sasakawa Yohei, Japan’s special peace envoy to Myanmar, helped broker the ceasefire between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army.Credit: Flickr/ Palácio do Planalto

The conflict followed the army’s brutal assault on Muslim Rohingya communities in northern Rakhine, which caused thousands of civilian deaths and drove more than 700,000 people over the border into Bangladesh.

The fighting also prompted the Union Election Commission (UEC) to cancel the elections in nine townships of northern Rakhine State, in addition to other conflict-torn parts of Myanmar, claiming that these regions were “not in a situation to hold free and fair elections.” But now, an informal ceasefire between the AA and the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, has opened the door to supplementary elections in Rakhine, and beyond that, to the glimmer of a lasting solution to the civil war.

Suu Kyi's capabilities tested amid numerous issues plaguing Myanmar: Yomiuri Shimbun

THE STRAITS TIMES

Editorial Notes
Nov 23, 2020

The paper says there has been little progress on ending the civil war between the military and ethnic minorities, issues that Aung San Suu Kyi included in her campaign pledges.

Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi delivering a speech on State Television in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Nov 9, 2020. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

TOKYO (THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Efforts to weaken the military's involvement in politics are essential if Myanmar is to promote democratisation and achieve domestic stability. Aung San Suu Kyi's ability to take action is being called into question.

In the Myanmar general election, the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), led by State Counsellor Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of the government, won more than 80 per cent of the seats up for grabs, maintaining its sole majority. Suu Kyi's popularity has been demonstrated, but the future will be difficult.

The NLD won a landslide in the previous election in 2015, marking a shift from the military-centred political rule that lasted more than half a century. 

War, not politics: Troubled election deepens tension in Myanmar's Rakhine

REUTERS
By Shoon Naing

 

YANGON (Reuters) - Yarzar Tun’s whole family backed Myanmar’s Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in the landslide 2015 election that swept her to power. As fighting this year in western Rakhine state crept closer to his home, he decided he would not vote for her again. 

People wearing protective gear line up to vote at a polling station during the general election in Taungup, Rakhine State, Myanmar, November 8, 2020. ÊREUTERS/Stringer

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) has claimed another commanding win in a parliamentary election on Sunday, the second since the end of half a century of military rule. But in Rakhine the NLD was rejected by voters such as Yarzar Tun and his family, who backed an ethnic nationalist party instead.

Rohingyas Brace For The Worst During Myanmar’s Election As Suu Kyi Takes The Lead

Transcontinental Times
By Tanbirul Miraj Ripon
November 8, 2020

The future of democracy and the fate of the Rohingya refugees hangs in the balance

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

MYANMAR. Yangon: The country’s general election took place today. Due to COVID-19, voting has been completed in accordance with health regulations. Because of this, voting is still going on in some areas. A majority of 322 seats are needed to form a government. The National League For Democracy (NLD) and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) have received the majority of the votes so far. Early results show the NLD have already secured 13 Seats, with 33,677 votes, and the USDP with currently zero seats, but 12,133 votes.

“Wir spielen keine Rolle”: Rohingya wurde bei den Wahlen in Myanmar der Stimme beraubt.

Writeschaftsblatt

By RAINER PROKSCH
on November 8, 2020 

Hunderttausende von Rohingya-Muslimen, die in Bangladesch Zuflucht gesucht haben, beklagen ihren Ausschluss von den Wahlen.

Mohammad Yusuf stimmte von 1974 bis 2010 bei fast allen Wahlen in Myanmar ab – das letzte Mal, dass ethnische Rohingya in dem Land wählen durften, das er nach seiner Flucht vor drei Jahren nach einer brutalen Militäroffensive immer noch zu Hause anruft.

In Myanmar’s Rakhine State, Trust in Armed Group Grows as Election Hopes Fade

Pulitzar Center

The New Humanitaria

Kyaw Hsan Hlaing and Emily Fishbein

November 05, 2020 

 

Conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine State has uprooted some 227,000 people since late 2018. Aid access is restricted in many areas. Illustration by Thu Ra Kyaw/TNH.

Many Arakanese in Myanmar’s Rakhine State were optimistic in the lead-up to the country's first openly contested elections in a quarter of a century, in 2015. There’s a stark difference five years on, as 8 November polls are clouded by an escalating civil war and voting cancellations across most of the state.

We don’t matter’: Rohingya deprived of vote in Myanmar elections

Aljazeera
Al Jazeera English
Nov 6, 2020

Myanmar is holding its second general election on Sunday since it ended military rule. The government has cancelled voting in areas where there has been fighting between the military and ethnic armed groups. Al Jazeera's Florence Looi reports.

Read related News : Here

 

Link : Here

‘We don’t matter’: Rohingya deprived of vote in Myanmar elections

Aljazeera
6 Nov 2020

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims, who have taken shelter in Bangladesh, lament their exclusion from the polls. 

 

Successive military governments in Myanmar have stripped the Rohingya of identity documents, leaving many with no proof of their origins [Mohammed Jamjoom/Al Jazeera]

Mohammad Yusuf voted in almost every Myanmar election from 1974 until 2010 – the last time ethnic Rohingya were allowed to vote in the country he still calls home after fleeing three years ago in the wake of a brutal military offensive.

Hate speech rife in Myanmar ahead of elections: Study

AA

Md. Kamruzzaman

DHAKA, Bangladesh 

04.11.2020

Ahead of general elections, state-sponsored hate speech, fake news, incitement to violence have mar campaigns, says report 

 A new study on the ongoing general election season in Myanmar documented cases of social media hate speech and disinformation by authorities against the country's minority communities.

The study, released on Wednesday by the UK-based Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN), reported 39 cases of hate speech and disinformation, of which some were shared over online platforms more then 2,000 times.

A Sham Election May Be the ‘Nail in the Coffin’ for Democracy in Myanmar

WPR

Prachi Vidwans  

Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020

Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, attends a ceremony at the National League for Democracy’s temporary headquarters in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Sept. 8, 2020 (AP photo by Aung Shine Oo).

Myanmar is preparing to hold general elections this Sunday, an occasion that might have marked a significant milestone in its ongoing transition from decades of military rule. The previous polls, in 2015, saw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy finally win the presidency and a majority of seats in parliament, following the dissolution of the military junta in 2011. Hopes were high that Suu Kyi, who is now Myanmar’s de facto leader, would usher in a new era of peace and expanded freedoms. Yet the consensus today is that Myanmar’s democratic transition has stalled—if it can even be said to be transitioning at all.

Myanmar Rohingya feel anger and despair before election

NIKKEI ASIA
CAPE DIAMOND,
October 30, 2020 

Members of Muslim group stripped of citizenship can't vote or run for parliament

A man and a girl stand outside their home in a village in the state of Rakhine, western Myanmar, in 2018. (Photo by Cape Diamond)
CAPE DIAMOND, Contributing writerOctober 30, 2020 16:18 JST

YANGON -- Anger and despair is spreading among the Rohingya in Myanmar before the country's general election on Nov. 8 as many in the Muslim group have had their citizenship stripped and are barred from voting or running for parliament.

Tayub Uddin, 65, is a Rohingya politician in Yangon and serves as a senior vice chairman of the Democracy and Human Rights Party, a Rohingya political party. While he is actively participating in politics, his family members in Rakhine State, located on the country's western coast and home to many Rohingya, are not recognized as citizens.

Timeline: Myanmar's Troubled Recent Past, Ahead of November 8 Polls

The WIRE
Poppy McPherson
30/Oct/2020 

Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi casts an advance vote ahead of November 8th general election in Naypyitaw, Myanmar October 29, 2020. Photo: Reuters/Thar Byaw 

Yangon: Myanmar goes to the polls on November 8, 2020, in its second general election since the end of full military rule in 2011.

Here is a timeline of some key events in the nation’s recent rocky history:

Don’t be fooled. Myanmar’s ‘democratic election’ is a sham.

The Washington Post 

Opinion by Tun Khin 

Oct. 14, 2020

Tun Khin is president of the Burma Rohingya Organization UK.

 

What a difference five years can make. In 2015, many of my fellow Rohingya people cheered as the party of the famed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi won a landslide victory in Myanmar’s first democratic elections of the 21st century, bringing an end to decades of outright military rule. Euphoria reigned. We hoped not only for a new beginning for the country, but also for an end to the oppression against us.

Today, as Myanmar gears up for another general election on Nov. 8, the situation is starkly different. Three years ago, Aung San Suu Kyi, now the country’s de facto head of state, stood by as military leaders launched a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign that killed thousands of Rohingya and drove more than 700,000 across the border into Bangladesh, where they now languish in immense refugee camps. The roughly 500,000 who remain in the country have been effectively disenfranchised. They are denied access to Myanmar’s democracy simply because of who they are.

UNSC members urge Myanmar to ensure Rohingya participation in Elections

DD NEWS
Rajesh Jha/Dhaka
12-09-2020

Eight members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) have urged Myanmar to ensure that Rohingya participate in the general elections scheduled to be held on November 8.

In a joint statement issued on Friday, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Tunisia, UK and the US asked Myanmar to ensure that individuals of all communities, including Rohingya, are able to participate safely, fully, and equally in credible and inclusive elections.

Rohingya politicians excluded from Myanmar election

REUTERS
Shoon Naing
AUGUST 25, 2020

YANGON (Reuters) - Aspiring politician Abdul Rasheed was born in Myanmar and is one of the very few members of the Rohingya Muslim minority to have Myanmar citizenship.



His father was a civil servant. But when the country goes to the polls in November, the businessman will not be able to stand as a candidate because officials accuse him of having foreign roots.

Myanmar Bars Rohingya Candidate from Election, Activists Denounce Decision as 'Symptom of Ongoing Genocide'

NEWS WORLD 18
AFP
August 12, 2020

Rohingya refugees are seen in a refugee camp.(Representational image: Reuters)

 

Three Rohingya-led parties had hoped to field at least a dozen candidates in November's vote, according to regional watchdog Fortify Rights.

A Rohingya Muslim has been barred from standing in Myanmar's upcoming election, in a decision decried by rights groups as discriminatory and a symptom of the "ongoing genocide" against the persecuted minority.