RANGOON — The pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has put up campaign posters of its candidates in respective constituencies across Burma, according to sources.USDP sources said the party has also finished putting up campaign posters for its candidates in eight townships in Naypyidaw as well as townships in Rangoon.
They said the USDP plans to place at least 10 campaign posters in each township in the country, costing thousands of US dollars.
According to government employees, campaign leaflets for USDP candidates, USDP newsletters, hats and T-shirts with the USDP logo, USDP flags and other items have been produced free of charge using equipment controlled by the regime's Ministry of Information and garment factories under the Ministry of Industry 1.
Ministers Kyaw Hsan of the Ministry of Information, and Aung Thaung of the Ministry of Industry 1, who will both USDP candidates, have been using printing presses and factories controlled by their ministries to produce campaign related material, sources said.
Meanwhile, the USDP has reportedly been campaigning in governmental offices in Naypyidaw, Rangoon and other places.
A staff member at the Internal Revenue Department of the Ministry of Home Affair told The Irrawaddy that USDP candidates recently visited her office and asked staff members to vote for them.
“We were summoned for a closed door meeting so I was worried. But it was just to tell us to vote for the USDP,” she said.
A person close to USDP headquarters in Naypyidaw told The Irrawaddy that staff members at governmental offices across the country have been ordered to cast their ballots for the USDP.
“All my family members will have no choice but to vote for the USDP,” said a staff member of the Myanmar Economic Bank.
Related Article: “Illegal USDP Campaign Tactics”
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"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."
