Myanmar opposition candidate hurt in sword attack on rally

In this September 11, 2015 photo, Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi walks after delivering a speech during a campaign rally of her National League for Democracy party in Loikaw, Eastern Kayah State. Many predict that NLD led by Aung San Suu Kyi will win this time and end military rule; others have forecasted that USDP will return to power. Wirathu has termed the NLD a “Muslim” party, but Suu Kyi’s own stand on Muslims has not been consistently strong.

“Our country will be changed only when she leads”, she added.

A lawmaker from Myanmar’s largest opposition party was attacked by three men with machetes on Thursday night, just over a week before a historic November 8 election, and has been hospitalized, his campaign manager said. “It is every citizen’s duty to vote”. A few address her as “Mother Suu”.

The election is being touted as the most participative polls in the history of Myanmar, and Suu Kyi, the head of Myanmar’s largest political formation NLD will be participating in a full-fledged election for the first time since 1990. The United States, Japan, Norway, and other important actors in Myanmar need to continue emphasizing to Naypyidaw that a free election is crucial to further restoring military relations and to continued large-scale foreign investment in the country. Without naming names, she said that “there are a few who are thinking to use bad ways to try to win”.

It may come as a surprise to many that despite not being able to vote for a few 20 years, there have been reports of apathy amongst the population about the pending election. This should also help to secure a lasting peace between the central government and minority ethnic groups which have long chafed at repressive rule by the army.

2010: The military-backed USDP declares victory in the first election under the new constitution amid claims of voting fraud.

Meanwhile, a student leader who has been on the run since March, following protests calling for education reform, has been arrested, police said yesterday, the latest detention over rallies that saw dozens arrested. The constitution, written by the junta before it ceded power, allocates 25 percent of seats in Parliament to the military. A staggering 91 political parties have registered to take part in the election, but there are two clear frontrunners.

The military remains a powerful force in politics under a constitution it drafted in 2008 despite Suu Kyi’s efforts to amend it.

He said regardless of the election outcome, the old guard is entrenched. “The majority of people in Myanmar want change”, he said.

“They’ve been preparing more than 14 years and have ensured that everything is systematically protected for them”, said Kyee Myint, who was among many lawyers involved in a “yellow ribbon” campaign against appointments of former soldiers to judicial posts. Yet that didn’t prevent a bunch of ethnic parties contesting and winning seats to the two houses of Parliament as well as state assemblies. In other words, Myanmar’s first free election in twenty-five years would ultimately be troubled but not unfree-a situation similar to elections held in other young democracies plagued by civil conflict, like Nigeria or Indonesia. Boycotted by the NLD and comprehensively won by the USDP, the 2010 elections produced a Union parliament that critics of the military have never recognized as being fully legitimate.

Ms Suu Kyi’s party has focused its campaign on mobilising a hope for change, that a few say is likely to pique the interest of younger voters. “If a party wants to win the election, they must do it in the right way”, she said. Ethnic minorities have assumed a formal political role since 2011, when Thein Sein’s nominally elected government began to institute tentative reforms.