Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the ruling National League for Democracy was swept into power in 2016, after defeating the military-backed government of retired general U Thein Sein in the landmark 2015 polls.
by John Grafilo
Millions of Myanmar citizens on Sunday trooped to polling stations across the country to choose the next government in a generally peaceful election, with high voter turnout.
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| Military personnel and their families cast ballots at a polling station outside their bases in Mandalay. / Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy |
Thousands of people queued in different poll precincts in Yangon at least an hour before the poll opened in the country’s commercial centre, which is also the most populous region in the country with 5.8 million voters.
Sunday’s electoral exercise was the first election held in the country under a civilian government after 53 years of military rule.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the ruling National League for Democracy was swept into power in 2016, after defeating the military-backed government of retired general U Thein Sein in the landmark 2015 polls.
U Thein Sein was the most senior aide of Myanmar’s feared dictator General Than Shwe who ruled from 1992 to 2011. U Thein Sein was his prime minister from 2007 to 2011.
Many considered the election a referendum of the performance of the government during the last five-years, marked by internal strife and international condemnation over the handling of the northern Rakhine humanitarian crisis.
The exercise was also seen as a test to the ties that bind Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the Myanmar people.
Election Day glitches
Perhaps, some poll officials did not anticipate the intensity and enthusiasm of the voters in exercising their rights to choose their own leaders, leading to some polling stations opening several minutes late. The voting time was from six in the morning to four in the afternoon.
In one polling station in Thingangyun township, Yangon Region, waited for nearly an hour after the polling station was opened, as the poll commission members in the area admitted delay in preparations.
There were also complaints about the lack of social distancing in the polling station due to the long queue of voters.
Likewise, some Shan ethnic people in Mandalay city felt bad that they were not allowed to cast vote for the Shan Ethnic Affairs seat in the Mandalay region, although they were able to cast their votes for the Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House), Phyithu Hluttaw ( Lower House) and the regional parliament seats.
Same troubles hounded some ethnic people in Hlaing Thar Yar township in Yangon, who were not able to cast their own respective ethnic affairs ministers for Yangon.
There were also some incidents where a fake election stamp of the Union Election Commission was found.
Observers’ notes
The Bangkok-based Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) commended the Union Election Commission and the Myanmar people for “making the elections happen despite the challenge of the global pandemic”.
“ANFREL also recognizes Myanmar’s health authorities, police officers, media, and civil society organizations for their contribution to promote safe, peaceful, and transparent elections,” it said.
“While the postponements of elections in several areas in the states of Rakhine, Shan, Kachin, Kayin, Mon, and Chin and in Bago region have caused the disenfranchisement of over 1.5 million voters, ANFREL hopes that the UEC will set up by-elections in these areas in due time to ensure the rights of these voters are upheld,” it added.
ANFREL observers, who arrived in the country a few days before the polls, monitored the voting and counting operations across the country. It will release its preliminary report about the conduct of the vote on Tuesday.
On the other hand, local poll observer People’s Alliance for Credible Elections (PACE), said it had deployed 1,888 short-term-observers in all the 14 regions and states across the country to monitor Sunday’s polls.
It noted that its observers were allowed to monitor the process unhampered except for “isolated reports of observers not being able to enter the polling stations initially, but those incidents have been resolved with the exception of two observers.”
“We would like to highlight the efforts of polling station officials and sub-commissions to open polling stations on time and to implement COVID-19 prevention measures,” Sai Ye Kyaw Swar Myint, an official of the group, said in a statement.
“At the same time, we want to emphasize that it is important to make sure that all polling station officials follow the UEC’s guidelines and procedures for the remainder of the process, including voting and counting,” he added.
Pace said that almost all polling stations, 99 percent, had all the necessary materials, although some materials, including ballot boxes and ballots, were missing at less than 1pc of poll stations.
It added that approximately 84pc of the polling stations opened between six and six thirty in the morning. PACE is to make interim assessment of the exercise on Monday.
Testing the ties that bind
The poll was widely seen as a reaffirmation of the bond between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the Myanmar people forged over 30 years ago in the unwavering fight for freedom against the totalitarian rule.
However, many said the bond has been frayed by the failure of the State Counsellor and her National League for Democracy to deliver on the promises they made to the people during 2015.
While the State Counsellor and the NLD is likely to win a second term, the people are expected to become less patient and less forgiving.
( Myanmar Times)
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