Myanmar: UN expects ‘disruptions’ during Myanmar election | Bangkok Post

The United Nations has issued a directive to its staff restricting travel to Burma during the election period, citing possible disruptions. The Democratic Voice of Burma has received a copy of a letter circulated by the New York-based UN Department of Safety and Security dated Sept 22, 2015. It states: “Myanmar [Burma] will hold general elections on 8 November 2015 with an official campaign running from 8 September till 6 November 2015. There are high expectations in the country that the elections will be carried out peacefully; however electoral-related disruptions are expected around the Polling Day until the final results are announced on 22 November 2015. The Designated Official, in consultation with the Security Management Team, has recommended that temporary travel restrictions should be in place for non-critical, external visits to Myanmar between 6- 24 November 2015.

Myanmar: Final Candidate List Released, Dozens Disqualified | VoA News

Myanmar has released its final list of candidates for the upcoming general election, with more than 6,000 people running for positions in the national parliament and regional legislatures. However, at least 75 independent or opposition party candidates have been disqualified, many because of the citizenship status of their parents. Among them are about 15 of 18 candidates from the Democracy and Human Rights Party, a Muslim majority party whose candidates tried to run in the Rakhine state constituencies.

Myanmar: Muslim minority is targeted for hate, not for votes | Al Jazeera

The celebrations began shortly after dawn. A cluster of monks in saffron robes gathered beneath this city’s historic golden Shwedagon Pagoda to murmur prayers and chants. A procession of vans then took the men to a monastery on the outskirts of Yangon, where groups of monks, nuns and civilians huddled under umbrellas before a large stage lined with senior abbots and emblazoned with Buddhist insignia. This was no ordinary religious festival. The Sept. 14 gathering was the start of a two-week nationwide anti-Muslim event organized by Myanmar’s powerful Buddhist nationalist group, known locally as the Ma Ba Tha. The cause for celebration was the recent adoption of a package of laws to “protect race and religion” in the Buddhist-majority country, further marginalizing its beleaguered Muslim minority. “Victorious! Victorious!” the crowd bellowed as a soft-spoken monk took to the stage.

Myanmar: Authorities to appoint 40,000 'special election police': official | Mizzima

Myanmar authorities will appoint 40,000 ordinary citizens as “special election police” ahead of November’s polls to boost security at polling stations, an official said Friday, amid concerns over the exact role they will play. The move comes as countries including the United States and Japan have expressed alarm that rising religious tensions could spark conflict in the former junta-ruled nation as election campaigning enters full swing. “We will appoint more than 40,000 people as special election police for one month starting from mid-October’,” a senior Naypyidaw-based police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP. They will be unarmed and wield fewer powers than official police, he added, without elaborating on the extent of their remit other than “reinforcing” security and providing “early warnings” of any troubles brewing during the November 8 polls.

Myanmar: International alarm over Myanmar religious tension ahead of key polls | AsiaOne

The United States, Japan and other major powers on Tuesday raised fears that rising religious tensions in Myanmar could spark “division and conflict” as campaigning begins for historic elections. Myanmar goes to the polls on November 8 in what many hope will be its freest vote in generations after decades of army rule, with Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party widely tipped to make huge gains. But religious tensions are spiking in the Buddhist-majority country, which has seen sporadic outbursts of often deadly religious unrest in recent years, with minority Muslims facing increasing political exclusion as the influence of nationalist monks grows.

Myanmar: As election looms, Myanmar trials target dissent | Reuters

Every Tuesday, the moss-covered redbrick courthouse in Tharrawaddy erupts into activity for a weekly ritual: the mass trial of student protesters. Under heavy guard at a session in late August, 81 students faced charges related to protests that were crushed by baton-wielding police in March. They are among a growing number of people caught in a crackdown on dissent as Myanmar heads towards a historic election in November, when the military-backed ruling party will compete with the ascendant National League for Democracy (NLD) party of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in the first free national vote in 25 years.

Myanmar: The mechanics of the elections | Nikkei Asian Review

Myanmar’s electoral process had a dramatic, if shaky, start when President Thein Sein — with the support of the military — forcibly ousted parliamentary Speaker Shwe Mann from the leadership of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, and moved his own loyal officials into place. While the president took a back seat during that tense evening at USDP headquarters in mid-August, the move sent a strong signal that military leaders intended to retain control of the pace and direction of democratic change — and were unhappy about the ambitious speaker’s challenges to their authority. The president and his military commander say they remain committed to holding a free and fair election. That should not be surprising.

Myanmar: President wants ceasefire ahead of elections | Al Jazeera

Myanmar President Thein Sein has made his first public appearance since the start of a campaign for November 8 general elections, meeting leaders of ethnic armed groups for ceasefire talks. At the opening of the talks in the capital Naypyitaw on Wednesday, Thein Sein stressed the importance of peace in the country’s “transition to democracy” through peace. “I hope today’s summit will pave the way to signing the nationwide ceasefire agreement by the end of September,” he said. Clinching the deal with the armed groups would be a political win for Thein Sein, who made it his top priority, boosting the chances of his ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party in the first general elections since the end of military rule. He said that he wants the ceasefire signed by September 29.

Myanmar: Campaign begins for Myanmar election set to decide scope of democratic change | Reuters

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will take her election battle straight to one of the president’s closest allies when campaigning gets under way this week for the first free general election since the end of military rule. Nobel laureate Suu Kyi will meet her supporters on Thursday in the region where powerful Minister of the President’s Office Soe Thein, the architect of President Thein Sein’s economic reforms, is running for a seat in the Nov. 8 election. Her appearance is a gesture of confidence that her National League for Democracy (NLD) can defeat the president’s closest supporters and their ruling, army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). The campaign officially begins on Tuesday.

Myanmar: Monks Claim Victory as Rohingya Muslims Stripped of Voting Rights | AFP

With a smile, Myanmar’s most notorious monk boasts of the sleepless nights he endures on his self-appointed quest against the country’s Muslims – one that he claims has helped strip voting rights from hundreds of thousands of the religious minority. Wirathu, whose anti-Muslim campaign has stoked religious tensions in the Buddhist-majority nation, said he spends most nights at his tranquil Mandalay monastery glued to his computer screen, streaming images from some of the world’s most violent Islamic terrorist organizations. He then posts messages to his 91,000 Facebook followers, helping foment the idea that Buddhism is under threat. “Many days I don’t sleep at all,” the monk, who goes by one name, told AFP, adding his work is so arduous that he lacks the time enjoyed by President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to “have family meals and put on make-up.” Myanmar’s Muslims, who make up at least 5 percent of the 51-million population, have a long history of involvement in public life. But they have faced increasing marginalization under the current quasi-civilian government that replaced junta rule in 2011.

Myanmar: Millions abroad to miss out on chance to vote on November 8 | Myanmar Times

According to the 2014 census, about 2 million Myanmar are living abroad, with about 70 percent in Thailand. However, the number is thought to be much higher, with 2-3 million in Thailand alone. And not all those who have registered will get the right to vote. UEC chair U Tin Aye said the commission is checking applications, known as “Form 15”, and comparing them with the voter lists back in Myanmar to determine eligibility. “We will be issuing the final voter list for the whole country on September 14,” U Tin Aye said. “This list will determine who has the right to vote.” Officials did not clarify where the Form 15 supplicants had submitted their applications from. The Myanmar Times called the Myanmar embassies in Thailand and Malaysia multiple times to ask how many people had filed applications but there was no answer.

Myanmar: Election Body Rejects Muslim Parliamentary Candidates | Radio Free Asia

Myanmar’s Union Election Commission (UEC) on Tuesday rejected all but one candidate from an Islamic party based on citizenship requirements before general elections in November in a move that could lead to the party’s disbandment, the organization’s political leader said. The commission rejected the applications of 17 of 18 candidates who had filed to run for parliamentary seats as members of the Democracy and Human Rights Party (DHRP), Kyaw Min (a) Mahmood Shomshul Anwarul Haque, the party’s chairman, told RFA’s Myanmar Service. Eleven of the rejected candidates are from Rakhine state, and the six others are from the Yangon division, he said, leaving only one party candidate to stand in the elections. “The rejection notice did not mention detailed reasons behind the decision, but just said the candidates were rejected for violations based on laws and regulations,” he said.

Myanmar: Parties banned from criticising army in election campaign | South China Morning Post

Myanmar has banned political parties from criticising the army or the military-dominated constitution in state media during campaigning for elections seen as a test of the country’s transition from military rule. The parties standing in the November 8 elections will be allowed to broadcast 15-minute speeches on state television and radio, according to a statement by the Union Election Commission, and publish them in state-owned newspapers. But the addresses will be vetted by the commission and the Ministry of Information and could be rejected if officials find that they violate the rules.

Myanmar: Muslim parties fear exclusion from election | Myanmar Times

At least half-a-dozen independent and opposition party candidates have so far been disqualified, mainly after the citizenship of their parents was called into question. The ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, meanwhile, said as of yesterday evening it had not dropped a single contestant. In the 2010 election, the government was accused by election monitors of skewing the scrutinising process in favour of eliminating opposition candidates in areas anticipated to be hotly contested. Muslim parties in restive Rakhine State are especially worried about this year’s process, after a sitting Muslim MP was cut from the candidate list last week. U Shwe Maung was rejected from the ruling party after serving as a Pyithu Hluttaw representative for Buthidaung for five years.

Myanmar: Military chief says armed forces will respect vote | Reuters

Myanmar’s powerful commander-in-chief has reiterated that the military will respect the outcome of the country’s Nov 8 election, seen as a crucial test of Myanmar’s reform process. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said that the main concern of the armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, is that the vote is carried out fairly and that the result is respected by everyone – even if Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) wins a majority. “We wouldn’t mind even if the NLD won in the next general election, as long as it is free and fair,” he told members of the Myanmar’s Interim Press Council, a media support group, during a meeting on Monday.

Myanmar: As elections near, a struggle to get the word out | UCA News

Long Tway village is a long way from anywhere. The nearest city, Taunggyi, is a rough three-hour drive to the west of this small settlement of about 30 households, sitting high in a steep valley amid the vast Shan Hills in eastern Myanmar. In lowland areas of the country and the urban centers, anticipation is rising ahead of elections scheduled for Nov. 8. More than 6,000 candidates have applied to take part in the elections, and campaigning is likely to involve large-scale rallies and poster campaigns. But here in the hills, people have only a vague knowledge of the polls. “No one came here to tell us about the election,” local woman Nan Yon, 44, told ucanews.com recently. She had heard an election was coming, she said, but was surprised to learn that the vote was only months away.

Myanmar: Lawmaker Barred From Re-election on Citizenship Grounds | The New York Times

As an elected lawmaker and member of Myanmar’s governing party, U Shwe Maung attended dinners with the president and made speeches from the floor of Parliament. But this weekend, the country’s election commission ruled that despite more than four years in office, he was not a citizen and thus was ineligible to run for re-election in landmark voting in November. “I was approved and considered a full citizen in 2010,” he said in an interview on Saturday. “Now, after five years, how could I not be eligible?” Mr. Shwe Maung’s plight is but one example of what appears to be the mass disenfranchisement of the Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority who number around one million in Myanmar.

Myanmar: Rights group urges Myanmar to prevent Rohingya disenfranchisement | Bangkok Post

A US-based rights group has urged Myanmar to prevent the exclusion of hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya from voting in crucial November elections after the minority were stripped of their identity cards earlier this year. The Carter Center also warned that growing anti-Islamic hate speech in the Buddhist-majority nation could see religious tensions flare during the upcoming campaign period. Myanmar authorities began collecting temporary identification documents from minority groups, mainly the displaced Rohingya in western Rakhine state, in April — a move which takes away their voting rights.

Myanmar: President Thein Sein Ousts Ruling Party Chairman Ahead of Elections | RFA

Myanmar President Thein Sein has moved to consolidate his power in the country’s ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) by forcing out his chief rival Shwe Mann as party chairman, months ahead of a November general election. Shwe Mann was removed from his position as “acting” chairman of the ruling party because he was too busy with his other role as the country’s influential parliamentary speaker, the USDP said in a statement Thursday. The shakeup follows reports that security forces had surrounded USDP headquarters in the capital Naypyidaw late on Wednesday, preventing some members from leaving, and possibly taking Shwe Mann into custody.

Myanmar: Floods won’t stop election in Myanmar | The Nation

The November 8 election will not be postponed despite a provision in the Constitution to delay a poll in the event of a disaster, according to the Ministry of Information. In its announcement, the ministry said Union Election Commission (UEC) chairperson Tin Aye met UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, in Nay Pyi Taw on Thursday. Yanghee Lee asked about errors in the voter lists and the difficulties faced when correcting them in flood-affected areas and the possibility of postponing the election in those areas until a process to vote in refugee camps could be established.

Myanmar: Opposition Leader Suu Kyi warns against flood-linked vote tampering | Associated Press

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi expressed concern Thursday that massive flooding in much of the country might be used as a pretext to undermine November’s general election. In a video appealing to the international community to help flood victims, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate drew a parallel with a referendum, carried out under military rule in 2008, that brought in the current much-maligned constitution. The voting took place during widespread chaos following Cyclone Nargis, which killed an estimated 140,000 people. According to the official results, the charter was overwhelmingly confirmed, but many reports cast doubt on the fairness of the vote and the results. The constitution was drafted under military supervision and enshrines its dominance in government, making substantial democratic reforms difficult to achieve.

Myanmar: Voters to get identity cards | Myanmar Times

Voters will receive a special identity card that will guarantee their right to vote on election day, Sunday, November 8, the Union Election Commission has announced. The new measure will apply to all 32 million perspective voters. The new cards, which are separate from the existing National Registration Cards, will be distributed a week or so before the poll, the UEC said. “On election day, voters must bring their cards to the voting booth, where electoral officials will check the cards against the voters register and give them a ballot paper,” UEC official U Thaung Hlaing in Nay Pyi Taw on August 4. “Minor errors like spelling mistakes are acceptable,” he added.

Myanmar: Aung Suu Kyi’s party shuns key players for Myanmar elections | The Financial Express

The party of Aung San Suu Kyi has rejected bids by 17 members of Myanmar’s respected “88 generation” to join its ranks and contest November’s election, a controversial omission of a group that was expected to galvanise its bid to dominate the ballot. The National League for Democracy (NLD) party selected only one member of the popular crop of activists, who suffered years of persecution after leading nationwide student protests in 1988 that were brutally crushed by the ruling military. Their rebellion mushroomed into a pro-democracy uprising that thrust Suu Kyi, the daughter of late independence hero Aung San, into Myanmar’s political spotlight.

Myanmar: Burma’s path to democracy is being wrecked by lethal identity politics | The Conversation UK

The very word “Burma” was once shorthand for a brutal military dictatorship, but things have now changed dramatically. Burma (or Myanmar) has come to be viewed as a country firmly committed to the establishment of a new reality, founded upon respect for human rights and the rule of law. Behind this changing perception are a series of planned government reforms and gestures. In 2010, under the auspices of the so-called “seven stage road-map to democracy” Burma’s government ended the 15-year house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi. A further 2,000 political prisoners were subsequently released, many of whom had languished in the aptly named Insein prison.

Myanmar: Suu Kyi Registers for Nov. 8 Election | VoA News

Myanmar’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi Wednesday registered for November elections to keep her seat in parliament and challenge the ruling military-backed party. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy will contest almost all the 498 parliamentary seats in the Nov. 8 polls, and expects heavy gains, according to party spokesman Nyan Win. He said the party will announce the first batch of candidates Wednesday.

Myanmar: Burma’s Moment of Truth | Foreign Policy

o the Burmese government has finally set a date for the next national election. That’s good news. At least we know that there’s definitely going to be a vote. The government’s dithering had raised fears that it might be angling for a postponement. Yet Burma’s tribulations are far from over. The country’s nascent democracy is in deep trouble. The country’s nascent democracy is in deep trouble. And you don’t have to rely on me as the source. Just ask the Burmese. Recently I had the privilege to meet up here in Washington with Wai Wai Nu, a 27-year-old Burmese political activist. She had come to speak with U.S. government officials and human rights organizations, but ended up getting a bit more than she’d bargained for. On June 23, President Barack Obama invited her (and a diverse bunch of American Muslims) to the White House for iftar, the evening meal that marks the daily breaking of the Ramadan fast. Wai Wai Nu is a Rohingya, the Muslim minority that has been the object of considerable violence and discrimination in Burma in recent years.

Myanmar: Expatriates among 32 million eligible voters | The Nation

There are over 32 million names of eligible voters on Myanmar’s preliminary voter list as of July 22, including citizens who have left the country, according to the Union Election Commission (UEC). “I’ve found over 32 million names on the list,” UEC Chairman Tin Aye said at a press conference in Yangon. “There are [Myanmar] expatriates among the 32 million names. Wherever they are, they will be in the voter list. Therefore, they can vote in the upcoming election. For those who go abroad with the permission of the government, they can submit Form No 15, and we will send ballots to them. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will assist in this,” he said.

Myanmar: Opposition Recruiting Allies Ahead of Poll | VoA News

The main opposition National League for Democracy in Myanmar, also known as Burma, is reaching out to other activists to bolster its position ahead of elections later this year. In Myanmar, also known as Burma, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, right, receives flowers from supporters of her National League for Democracy Party, Yangon International Airport, June 10, 2015.In Myanmar, also known as Burma, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, right, receives flowers from supporters of her National League for Democracy Party, Yangon International Airport, June 10, 2015. The party, led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has invited former student leaders and veteran politicians to join the NLD as candidates in November.

Myanmar: Myanmar Still in Dark Over General Election Main Players | Wall Street Journal

With Myanmar poised to hold its fairest general election in decades, the country remains in the dark over whom and what it will be voting for on Nov. 8. While Aung San Suu Kyi said her party will participate in the election, the Nobel Peace Prize winner is constitutionally barred from becoming president, leaving a blurred picture of what a vote for her would mean. And now the ruling party faces a potential leadership tussle between President Thein Sein and House Speaker Shwe Mann. Mr. Thein Sein, in power since the former military regime ceded control in 2011, has repeatedly hinted that he would seek a second term. On Tuesday, Zaw Htay, director of the president’s office, said Mr. Thein Sein’s “desires had not changed.” He said the president would seek a second term “if it is what the people wish.”

Myanmar: November date set for landmark Myanmar elections: What’s at stake? | CNN

Myanmar has set November 8 as the date for a landmark general election, the country’s election commission said. The vote will be the first to be held under the country’s military-backed, quasi-civilian government, which has been pushing through expansive political and economic reforms since 2011, bringing the country out of decades of authoritarian rule and international isolation. It is expected to be the freest, fairest vote seen in the country, also known as Burma, since 1990, when the first multi-party election in decades was held. That election was won convincingly by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), but the country’s ruling military junta refused to recognize the results.