Aung San Suu Kyi made the right decision to boycott the sham poll

The Burma’s state-run television and radio stations on 13th August announced that Burma’s Union Election Commission (UEC) will hold the multiparty general elections for the respective Hluttaws (Parliaments) on Sunday, 7 November 2010 in accordance with the Article 34 (c) of the respective Hluttaw Election Laws and Rules 16 (a).

This announcement from the junta-appointed UEC said political parties have to submit names of their candidates between 16 to 30 August.

The announcement of the poll date comes a day after the UEC stated that a total of 330 constituencies will be contested in the election. According to the report by junta’s mouthpiece ‘The New Light of Myanmar', the previous capital Rangoon will have 45 constituencies which earlier had 61 constituencies in 1990. Naypidaw, the new capital and it will have 8 constituencies.

There were 485 constituencies in 1990 general elections. The National League for Democracy (NLD) won 392 parliamentary seats and the junta-backed National Unity Party (NUP) managed to win only 10 seats. In the 1990 elections, out of 20 million eligible voters more than 15 millions turned out and cast their votes.

The Immigration and Population Ministry collected data by the end of 2009 showing the population is now 59.12 million, the bi-weekly Eleven journal reported. Of the total population, 30.74 million are aged 18 or above, the journal said. The minimum voting age is in Burma is 18 years.

The United States has said that Burma's planned November 7 general elections cannot be "inclusive or credible" without the release of all the political prisoners held in the country’s notorious prisons.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also urged Burma’s military authorities to release all political prisoners, including pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ahead of November's general elections. His comments come as Burma’s election commission set November 7 as the date for the country's first general elections in 20 years.

On 9 August, Mr. Ban criticized the Burmese military authorities for being slow to announce the date for the election. He told reporters that he and his Special Advisor Vijay Nambiar had been making every effort to continue engaging Burma’s authorities on the issue of the political process including the planned elections, but alleged of a frustrating lack of cooperation from them.

The European Union told military-run Burma on 14 August, that its Nov. 7 elections, the first in two decades will not be considered legitimate in the eyes of the world, unless it can guarantee the vote is free and fair. "If these elections are to have legitimacy in the eyes of the people of (Burma or Myanmar) and the wider international community, the authorities must ensure that all parties can campaign freely and that the polling process itself is free and fair," said a statement released by the British Embassy in Rangoon, on behalf of other EU with missions in the country, including France, Italy and Germany.

The Democratic Party chairman, Thu Wai, said special branch police were visiting members' homes and asking them for personal information and two copies photos of each person in the household. Another candidate, Phyo Min Thein, a former political prisoner, resigned as chairman of the Union Democratic Party last week and publicly announced that he would not participate in the election, because it would not be free and fair.

It is alleged that Burma’s military regime is bent on placing roadblocks to political parties and preventing them from campaigning. But, the junta-backed USDP has none of such barrier. The regime has maintained tight restrictions on political opposition in the country and has not granted any operational breathing space for political parties to interact with the public. “The nearer the election, the more difficulties we experience,” U Thu Wai, the chairman of Democratic Party (Myanmar), told the media.

There are seven regions and seven states in Burma/Myanmar according to the new state constitution, namely, Sagaing, Tanintharyi, Bago, Magway, Ayeyawaddy, Yangon and Mandalay regions, and Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Mon, Rakhine, Shan and Chin states.

According to the region or state parliamentary election law, the region or state parliament is to be made up of two representatives from each township in the region or state with each representative elected from each ethnic minority determined by the authorities as having a population which constitutes 0.1 percent and above of the population of the union.

The 7th November elections will be for 330 civilian seats in the 440-member House of Representatives. Under the 2008 constitution, military personnel will be appointed to the remaining 110 seats. In the 224-seat House of Nationalities, 168 will be elected, and 56 will be appointed by the armed forces.

So far, the commission has granted legal registration for a total of 40 political parties out of 47 applied for registration. The remaining seven are still in the waiting list for approval. The 40 contesting political parties are made up of 35 new and five old parties from the 1990 general election.

The junta-backed USDP is expected to win, what analysts have claimed as a sham election intended for entrenching the military rule. Ethnic parties have complained that the USDP party is hindering the efforts of other parties. Promising candidates have openly complaint that the USDP was given special preferences by the Election Commission and granted approval to run in the polls early on, while other parties struggled with the registration process and large finances required to run.

Formed on April 29, the USDP is led by the junta’s PM Thein Sein and 26 ministers and senior officials have sworn to build the party steadily and run in the elections. Thus, election watchers and media groups believe votes would be rigged in favor of the USDP.

A leaked document of the USDP published in the Irrawaddy on 13 August, shows that the USDP was assured to win upcoming elections. “Our party (USDP) does not need to compete with any main opposition party,” said the document pointing out that the small parties are plagued with various problems within and are mostly hopeless.

Most important is that, the military-drawn 2008 constitution states that the National Defense and Security Council will have the power to monitor and overrule the civilian government. The eleven-member council will be controlled by the commander in chief of the Army and he can make a constitutional coup d'état at any time.

Junta has drawn the electoral process to legitimize the military rule under a new mask of civilian legislative body. All those outwardly intentional composition to free and fair elections in Burma, it would give the impression that Aung San Suu Kyi and the members of the NLD are almost certainly right in choosing to boycott rather than participate in the sham ballot process.

Zin Linn is an exile freelance journalist from Burma and vice-president of Burma Media Association which is affiliated with the Paris-based Reporters San Frontiers.

- Asian Tribune -