Voters in Myanmar are set to go to the polls in a bid to bring San Suu Kyi’s party back to power, a country that has lost much of its prestige abroad despite allegations of genocide in the country.
The country’s second general election after the end of full military rule on Sunday saw queues of people waiting in line, in hours, in hours. Most people wore masks as a precaution against coronavirus. More than 60,000 infections have been confirmed in the country, most of which have been reported since mid-August.
The country is struggling with a paradoxical coronavirus epidemic in Rakhine state and Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to assume power despite facing genocide charges in the UN’s top court.
Five years after his party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), Aung San Suu Kyi retained strong support in the Ba’athist majority, which respected her as a defender of democracy. While the brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims surprised many abroad, there is little sympathy for their plight locally, and it has not been a factor in the election campaign.
In a Facebook video posted Thursday, Aung San Suu Kyi urged people to go out and vote. “Every voter is writing their own history, the history of this election and the history of our country,” he said.
About 38 million people, including 5 million first-time voters, were eligible to go to the polls.
“I am not at all afraid of being infected with Covid-1,” 27-year-old Khain Zar Chi told the Agence France-Presse because he had voted for the first time in downtown Yangon. “I don’t care if I die for Mother Sue.”
Others, however, have accused Aung San Suu Kyi of failing to deliver on the democratic reforms promised in 2015, or fulfill her promise. To bring peace and reconciliation.
Voting was canceled in some areas dominated by ethnic minorities, naturally due to security concerns over fighting between the military and armed groups, which are calling for greater autonomy. There is fear from this decision, due to which approximately 1. Millions of people have been deprived, they will spread anger and struggle for fuel.
Analysts point out that voting has also been closed in areas where fighting is limited.
Rohingya Muslims, who have long denied citizenship, are still without the right to vote. Most are stranded in scattered camps in Bangladesh, where they escaped military harassment in 2017. Hundreds of thousands have been confined to camps and villages in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where reports of insults by Human Rights Watch have said the racism is a crime against humanity. And oppression.
On Friday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern about the “legal elements” facing the Rohingya in Myanmar and their inability to vote. UN spokesman Stephen Dujarric said it was important for everyone to have a voice and be able to participate in the election in a way that is very inclusive.
The government-appointed Election Commission has been criticized not only for excluding voters, but also for lack of transparency, discrimination against Muslim candidates and logistical problems.
Last week, in a rare interview, Commander-in-Chief, Minung Ng Helaing, accused the civilian government of making “unacceptable mistakes” in fighting the election and called the military the “guardian” of the nation. He has since said he will accept the results of the vote.
A quarter of parliamentary seats are reserved for the military, which has ruled in an uneasy alliance with the NLD for the past five years. It remains extremely powerful and has blocked proposals to change the constitution and therefore reduce its influence.
About 90 parties are competing with the NLD, although the coronavirus epidemic has hampered publicity in some areas. It is believed that this will largely disadvantage smaller, ethnic-based parties, which lack the state media’s lack of access.
There were fears that the epidemic could also prevent people from going to the polls, but analysts reported a strong turnout on Sunday morning.
“People lined up for two hours to vote in downtown Yangon,” said Khin Zav Vin, director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon. He said, “Myanmar voters do not need to move forward, adding that historically, the importance of elections has long been recognized. He added that the people rejected half a century of democracy under the military, and people knew that voting was their best chance.
But he added that politicians constantly bring down the public. “There has been a wave of reform, but not enough, and not in crucial areas such as land tenure, citizenship and religious freedom. And corruption is always there, hanging like a hut. “
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