Military party triumphs amid fraud claims
Source: Agencies |
November 10, 2010, Wednesday
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MYANMAR'S biggest military-backed party won the country's first election in 20 years by a landslide yesterday.
Opposition parties conceded defeat but accused the military government of fraud and said many state workers had been forced to support the army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party in advance balloting ahead of Sunday's vote.
As the votes were counted, government soldiers cleared ethnic minority rebels from an eastern border town after two days of clashes that killed at least 10 people and sent about 18,000 civilians fleeing into neighboring Thailand.
Many refugees had returned to Myanmar by yesterday afternoon as the military pushed back the ethnic minority Karen rebels who have resisted central authority for generations since what was then Burma won independence in 1948 from Britain.
The rebels say the election and the military's continued dominance threaten any chance of achieving a degree of autonomy.
Stacked with recently retired generals, the USDP took as many as 80 percent of the available seats for parliament, a senior USDP official said.
But Khin Maung Swe, leader of the National Democratic Force, the largest opposition party, said: "We took the lead at the beginning but the USDP later came up with so-called advance votes and that changed the results completely; so we lost."
The second-largest opposition party, the Democratic Party (Myanmar), also conceded defeat.
"I admit defeat but it was not fair play. It was full of malpractice and fraud and we will try to expose them and tell the people," its leader Thu Wai said.
At least six parties have lodged complaints with the election commission, accusing the USDP of fraud.
The vote was held with Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in detention and her party disbanded for refusing to take part in the election. The 65-year-old Suu Kyi has spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention but is due to be freed when her latest house arrest term expires on Saturday.
The USDP's only real rival, the National Unity Party, also backed by the army, fared poorly in its quest for 980 seats, winning just 54 in the bicameral parliament and state assemblies.
"Some representatives of our party filed complaints about fraud and malpractice by the USDP," said Tin Aung, a senior NUP official.
Already, 25 percent of the seats in parliament are reserved for serving generals. Lawmakers are expected to approve policies by a Cabinet appointed by a president who is not elected but appointed by a parliamentary committee.
The armed forces supreme commander will choose three serving generals to head defense, interior and border affairs ministries.
China lauded the election as "peaceful and successful."
"This is a critical step for Myanmar in implementing the seven-step roadmap to transitioning to an elected government and is welcome," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar belongs, welcomed the vote as a "significant step forward," Vietnamese Foreign Minister Ham Gina Khi said as the group's chair.
Opposition parties conceded defeat but accused the military government of fraud and said many state workers had been forced to support the army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party in advance balloting ahead of Sunday's vote.
As the votes were counted, government soldiers cleared ethnic minority rebels from an eastern border town after two days of clashes that killed at least 10 people and sent about 18,000 civilians fleeing into neighboring Thailand.
Many refugees had returned to Myanmar by yesterday afternoon as the military pushed back the ethnic minority Karen rebels who have resisted central authority for generations since what was then Burma won independence in 1948 from Britain.
The rebels say the election and the military's continued dominance threaten any chance of achieving a degree of autonomy.
Stacked with recently retired generals, the USDP took as many as 80 percent of the available seats for parliament, a senior USDP official said.
But Khin Maung Swe, leader of the National Democratic Force, the largest opposition party, said: "We took the lead at the beginning but the USDP later came up with so-called advance votes and that changed the results completely; so we lost."
The second-largest opposition party, the Democratic Party (Myanmar), also conceded defeat.
"I admit defeat but it was not fair play. It was full of malpractice and fraud and we will try to expose them and tell the people," its leader Thu Wai said.
At least six parties have lodged complaints with the election commission, accusing the USDP of fraud.
The vote was held with Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in detention and her party disbanded for refusing to take part in the election. The 65-year-old Suu Kyi has spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention but is due to be freed when her latest house arrest term expires on Saturday.
The USDP's only real rival, the National Unity Party, also backed by the army, fared poorly in its quest for 980 seats, winning just 54 in the bicameral parliament and state assemblies.
"Some representatives of our party filed complaints about fraud and malpractice by the USDP," said Tin Aung, a senior NUP official.
Already, 25 percent of the seats in parliament are reserved for serving generals. Lawmakers are expected to approve policies by a Cabinet appointed by a president who is not elected but appointed by a parliamentary committee.
The armed forces supreme commander will choose three serving generals to head defense, interior and border affairs ministries.
China lauded the election as "peaceful and successful."
"This is a critical step for Myanmar in implementing the seven-step roadmap to transitioning to an elected government and is welcome," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar belongs, welcomed the vote as a "significant step forward," Vietnamese Foreign Minister Ham Gina Khi said as the group's chair.
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