Myanmar vote could be delayed, say officials and parties

Myanmar’s general election will go ahead as planned on November 8 despite a proposed delay because of recent landslides and flooding, the election commission said Tuesday.

The National League for Democracy of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was the only party to oppose the proposed election postponement.

The Union Election Commission, in a two-hour meeting with 10 of the biggest political parties, floated the idea of postponing the vote.

It could also raise questions over the readiness of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which includes many members of Myanmar’s former junta, to accept the results of the poll. “The main reasons are the current natural disasters and unstable situation in the country”, Zeyar Maung, an official at the Union Election Commission headquarters, told Reuters.

Severe floods since July have killed at least 80 people and temporarily displaced about 1.6 million of Myanmar’s 51 million people, according to latest United Nations statistics from September, but flooding has eased since then.

Thousands of villagers in the heavily Christian areas of Kachin and Karen states in Myanmar will be unable to vote in the country’s November elections due to security concerns – putting a dent in the number of seats that ethnic-based parties can win in the highly anticipated polls.

Special correspondent Kira Kay spoke with Aung San Suu Kyi’s protege, Nay Phone Latt, about what the upcoming election could mean for democracy in Myanmar.

The flooding is the worst natural disaster in Burma since Cyclone Nargis killed almost 140,000 people in May 2008. “But we discussed it with the parties because the election law suggest consultation with parties to fix the election date”, he said.

Mr Thein Sein, a former general, has been widely praised for overseeing a democratic transition after the military ceded power to a quasi-civilian government in 2011. “So the only logical conclusion was that the USDP was rattled by indications it might lose badly, and wanted to buy more time – although it was not clear what they could accomplish by delaying”.

But Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) opposed any postponement, saying it was aimed at thwarting its campaign.

“The floods and landslides are a really massive issue for people as well”.

Shwe Mann, the ousted chairman of the USDP, had to postpone a campaign stop planned for Tuesday in his hometown of Phyu in Bago region, north of Yangon, where he is running for a seat in parliament.