Myanmar proposes delaying November 8 elections due to flooding

Myanmar’s Union Election Commission held a meeting on Tuesday to propose the postponement of the country’s November 8 general election.

“They asked what we thought about postponing the election”, said Win Htein, a spokesman for the NLD, which is forecast to make major gains in the polls – the first nationwide vote it has contested in a quarter century.

Candidates from the National League for Democracy (NLD) on Monday condemned what they said was clear government favoritism toward the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in the election race to represent a smattering of islands in the Indian Ocean.

“According to campaign rules, when (someone) requests permission, they need to give permission right away”, Thant Zin Aung, an official from the Union Election Commission in Yangon told AFP.

Election rules mean the authorities can postpone polls in constituencies affected by natural disaster or unrest.

It is the worst natural disaster in Myanmar since Cyclone Nargis killed almost 140,000 people in May 2008.

Instead, U Tin Aye said that the lingering effects of flooding that swept the country in July and August, killing more than 100 people, cast doubt on whether the election could be held fairly in flood-hit areas.

In Kachin, the decision affects almost twice as large an area as a similar cancellation ahead of 2010 polls, where elections were called off due to pockets of unrest.

The election follows a period of reform and opening up to investment in the former pariah state, after the junta ceded power to a quasi-civilian government in 2011.

“The postponement of the elections in Myanmar, even on reasonable grounds and by a short time, would seriously shake confidence in the willingness of the incumbent elite to further the political transition”, said Romain Caillaud, senior director, global risk and investigations practice at FTI Consulting in Singapore.

Led by Nobel Peace Prize victor Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD won parliamentary majority in the general election of 1990, but the country’s military rulers refused to recognize the victory.

It comes as Myanmar prepares to sign a limited ceasefire on October 15 as it tries to end decades of civil war. The deal is being shunned by several major insurgent groups, including a few based in Kachin and Shan states.