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YANGON: Voters in Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon, turned out in large numbers on Sunday (November 8) to vote in the national elections expected to return the party of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu to power. Kyi.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won the last elections in 2015 in a landslide, ending more than five decades of rule by the military in the country.
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With Myanmar threatened by a wave of coronavirus, the wearing of masks was mandatory in the ranks at polling stations, and many voters also donned plastic face shields and gloves.
Masked supporters cheer at the National League for Democracy (NLD) party headquarters on Election Day November 8, 2020, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo / Thein Zaw)
Officials took body temperature and officials dispensed hand sanitizer gel freely, but social distancing rules were only observed erratically.
The traditional campaign before the elections was severely limited by social distancing and quarantines in some areas.
“Voter turnout here is more than we expected,” said Zaw Win Tun, neighborhood administrator and official at Yangon’s Pho Myae Electoral College.
“I think people are excited to vote as they would like to escape political struggles. They want real democracy.” He did not elaborate, but appeared to be referring to a power struggle between Suu Kyi’s civilian government and the army.
The Suu Kyi administration’s ability to rule the country has been hampered by a clause in the 2008 army-drafted constitution that grants the military 25 percent of seats in Parliament, allowing it to block the constitutional reforms.
At another polling station, Eaint Yadanar Oo, 19, said she was excited because it was the first time she had voted.
“I came here to vote to fulfill my civic duty,” he said. He explained that he was afraid of the coronavirus pandemic, but that “he came here with full protection because I want better educational and job opportunities.”
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More than 90 parties competed for seats in the upper and lower houses of Parliament, while there were also elections at the state level. There were more than 37 million people eligible to vote, including 5 million beginners.
With the opposition in disarray, Suu Kyi, who is the nation’s leader with the title of councilor of state, remains Myanmar’s most popular politician.
But his government has not lived up to expectations, and economic growth has done little to alleviate widespread poverty and has failed to ease tensions between the country’s rebellious ethnic groups.
Suu Kyi, 75, cast her vote late last month in the capital, Naypyitaw, as citizens 60 and older were encouraged to vote early, along with those who were forced by the coronavirus to stand. away from their home districts.
His party’s main rival, as it was five years ago, was the military-backed Union, Solidarity and Development Party, which has led the opposition in Parliament.
The Electoral Commission said it would begin announcing the results Monday morning. Polling stations began counting votes as soon as the voting ended, but it can take up to a week to collect all the votes, some of which will come from remote jungle areas.
The election was seen as a referendum on Suu Kyi’s leadership.
“There is no major party that really presents an alternative, a credible alternative,” said Rangoon-based political analyst Richard Horsey, explaining part of the reason why the Suu Kyi camp has a winning hand in the heart of Myanmar. , where its ethnic Burmese majority live.
Even more important to the outlook of the ruling party, he said, is “the personal support, even love, that many people have for Aung San Suu Kyi herself, almost regardless of how the government administration performs, how the economy performs. , etc.”.
One such fan was Mee Mee, a 32-year-old voter and business owner. She said she was excited because in her travels around the country she was able to see the changes and development initiated by the Suu Kyi government, putting the country on the right path.
“I like Aunt Suu. She’s good, ”Mee Mee said, referring to Suu Kyi for how she is popularly known. “I believe in her and what she’s doing.”
Hundreds of NLD supporters gathered Sunday night at the party headquarters in Yangon to celebrate what they hope will be a victory. Myo Nyunt, a party executive and spokesperson, came out to urge them to celebrate at home, but instead the crowd grew larger, waving flags and singing songs.
Aung Sithu, 38, said he came with his 4-year-old daughter to cheer on Suu Kyi. “I am concerned about the virus, but I have to come here and show my support,” he said.
Affection for Suu Kyi does not extend to border areas, the states occupied by the myriad ethnic minorities that have sought greater political autonomy for decades.
Suu Kyi’s ambitious plans to reconcile with minorities have failed. Their complaints have frequently erupted into armed rebellions, posing a great threat to national security.
In 2015, ethnic political parties had cooperated with Suu Kyi’s party to secure victory against the Union, Solidarity and Development Party candidates. But this year, the ethnic parties, disappointed by their failure to reach an agreement to expand their political rights, supported only their own candidates.
The Union Electoral Commission caused a lot of controversy when it canceled the vote in some areas where parties critical of the government were sure to win seats. The commission said those areas were dangerous due to insurgencies, but critics said the agency was conducting the NLD tender.
It is estimated that more than 1 million people have lost their rights.
The plight of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim ethnic minority, an issue of great concern outside the country, did not play a real role in the campaign. A brutal 2017 counterinsurgency campaign by the Myanmar military led some 740,000 Rohingya to flee across the border into Bangladesh, leading to a World Court investigation into possible genocide.
Long-standing prejudice against the Rohingya, whom many consider illegal immigrants from South Asia despite their families having settled in Myanmar for generations, has deprived most of Myanmar’s citizenship and basic rights, including The vote.
