The Irrawaddy Burma Election 2010

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Election Law Meets Widespread Indifference, Opposition

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A straw poll taken by The Irrawaddy following the publication of Burma's election law indicates widespread indifference and pessimism about the election planned for this year.

A straw poll taken by The Irrawaddy following the publication of Burma's election law indicates widespread indifference and pessimism about the election planned for this year.

Out of 300 people polled in Rangoon, 232 said they opposed the law because it placed restrictions on political parties. Only eight said they were satisfied with the law, while 60 withheld comment.
 
A typical reaction came from a Rangoon civil servant, who said: “We are not interested in it because we can do nothing.”

His colleague agreed “I don't even want to talk about the election,” the woman said. “However we vote, they (the regime) will do whatever they want.”

Sources in Rangoon said many ordinary citizens may vote reluctantly, as they did in the constitutional referendum in 2008, regarding it as a civic duty.

In separate calls to people outside Rangoon, The Irrawaddy was told by a young Karen woman in Taungoon District of Pegu Division that most people she knew were not interested in the election. “Daily survival is more important than the election,” said the woman, Wah Wah.

Another young woman, Naw Thee, who lives in Loikaw, capital of Karenni State, shared her opinion.

A Karen businessman with links to the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) said not only ordinary people in DKBA-controlled areas but also leaders of the DKBA's political wing, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Organization (DKBO) had no interest in the election.

“They [DKBO leaders] say they don't want to be involved in politics,” he said. “They are only interested in social welfare and cultural activities.”  

The businessman thought the DKBA would not contest the 2010 election, although a few respected and retired Karen individuals who had gained the trust of the Burmese regime were being encouraged to form a political party.

Sources said people in the ethnic areas lack information about the election and the election law, which—like the 2008 Constitution—had been published only in the Burmese and English languages.  Massive cheating at the polls was expected, the sources said.

A housewife in Myitkyina, capital of Kachin State, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday, four days after publication of the election law, that she hadn't even heard about it.

Sources in Myitkyina and on the Sino-Burma border also said many Kachin people had no interest in the election after experiencing the fraudulent constitutional referendum.

“They think the election will not be free and fair,” said one Myitkyina resident, Ma Grang.

The constitutional referendum in May 2008 was held despite the devastating cyclone that hit the Irrawaddy delta and Rangoon Division early in the month. The regime claimed more than 90 percent of the electorate had voted in favor of the Constitution, despite all evidence to the contrary.

Rangoon-based correspondents contributed to this report.

 

Quotable

Nyan_win80"Once her [Aung San Suu Kyi's] sentence expires in November, and that notion is not disputed, it is our understanding that she will have served her sentence."
—Nyan Win, the foreign minister of Burma

Poll

Will you vote or boycott the Nov. 7 election?
 

CARTOON

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