Myanmar voters, who have been inning for hours on dusty city streets and the country’s muddy streets, expressed the possibility that Das Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling party would leave the country’s largest parliamentary power in Sunday’s election.
The strongest turnout in the country’s second-ever genuine election in decades demonstrates the commitment of voters to Myanmar’s supernatural democracy, which has remained in the shadow of a 50-year-old military dictatorship.
In a world where Americans were assessing the state of their own democracy, Myanmar’s election served as a crucial referendum on a political transition that was neither streamlined nor appointed.
“I had to vote today because my vote counts for the future of our country,” said U Sithu Ang, a physiotherapist who waited two hours in the sun to cast his vote in Mandalay city. “I know there is a risk of covid but it is more important to vote than to be infected with the virus.”
The election gave voice to a plethora of young, independent candidates and ethnic minority politicians, who have long been dominated by two political players in the country: the National League for Democracy, the leading political party and the military, which still retains. Most of the government orders.
On Sunday, 102 parties participated in the election. There were many ethnic parties and others were among the parties founded by people who at one time were the country’s civic leader Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi was close, just broke up with him.
Critics say the ruling party, despite being founded in opposition to the army’s democracy, is now repeating some of the sins of its former enemy. The government of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years in captivity at the behest of military generals, arrested many students, artists and farmers for expressing their political views.
The Election Commission has censored members of the opposition under the control of the ruling party and released many people who are not affiliated with the Bamar ethnic majority.
“Leaving people in Myanmar is nothing new,” said Yu Khin Zhou Win, a former political prisoner who runs a policy think tank in Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial capital. “The majority are ready to explain this as Buddhist karma.”
Ms Aung San Suu Kyi’s detectors also accused the National League for Democracy of turning her personality into a cult around the 75-year-old leader, leaving her party in a state of disarray. Foreign, Ms. The reputation of Aung San Suu Kyi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, was tarnished by the military’s defense of the ethnic cleansing campaign against Rohingya Muslims.
“The ruling party is very committed to Aung San Suu Kyi, but we do not want heroism,” said Mae Ii Thinzer Mange, a 26-year-old ethnic minority activist who ran for parliament in Yangon. “During this democratic era, the state of democracy in Myanmar has deteriorated. We hoped it would move on. ”
Ms. I. Thinzer Maung, who was imprisoned for her student activism, lost to the ruling party candidate on Sunday.
After the military seized power in 1962, elections were held in 1990; Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide victory, but the military ignored the results and prevented the formation of a civilian government. Elections were held in 2010 under the rules of protest, which boycotted the contest.
When the last snap elections were held in 2015, the National League for Democracy harassed the military-affiliated Union Unity and Development Party. These elections ushered in an era of power-sharing between the civilian government and the military.
Like the African National Congress in South Africa, the National League for Democracy remains a pre-eminent political force in the country, shaping widespread voter loyalty due to years of political imprisonment by its founders.
But the party on Sunday did not expect a landslide victory five years ago. At the time, having an opposition cover was enough to give candidates victory.
This time, as the governing party, the National League for Democracy (NDEM) has come under fire for its shortcomings. The epidemic reached Myanmar late but is now spreading to the country with the world’s worst health care system. Despite the lifting of international sanctions imposed due to human rights concerns, Myanmar has never received the expected boon in foreign investment. The coronavirus has pushed the economy further.
And for the enthusiasm of all the voters registered on Sunday, More than 1.5 million of the 37 million voters have been disqualified. Last month, the Election Commission canceled votes for many ethnic minorities living in conflict zones, citing security concerns. Legal experts pointed out that the vote should have been postponed, not completely canceled, and wondered whether the ordinance was a deliberate ploy by the governing party.
Andrew Nagan Kung Lia, a constitutional scholar serving as an ethnic peace negotiator, said that in some ethnic areas, people are very hostile to the NLD and support ethnic parties instead. “It looks like the NLD took advantage of the fight to calm down the ethnic people.”
In addition to those whose votes were canceled last month, one million or more Rohingya Muslims, many of whom were pushed out of the country by ethnic cleansing campaigns, were also unable to vote.
Ethnic minority groups make up one-third of Myanmar’s population, and they have been persecuted by the military: mass rape, forced labor and village burning, among other crimes documented by human rights groups.
In Som State, southeastern Myanmar, Mi Yin Sa Ning said he had chosen the Som ethnic party over the National League for Democracy. Like many in the state, she was furious when the government named the bridge, the father of Supri Aung San Suu Kyi, a symbol of independence, which some in Som saw as dependent.
“Dau Aung San Suu Kyi always says words like ‘federal democracy country’, but her actions only lead to dictatorship,” said Ms. Yin Sa Ning. “Both he and the military are working to gain power, civilians.” Not for. “
According to preliminary results released late Sunday night, the Som Union Party has cut the dominance of the National League for Democracy in Som State.
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s treatment of ethnic minorities, especially the Rohingya’s refusal to condemn ethnic cleansing, has led international governments to withdraw awards and keys to their cities. His reputation as a human rights symbol was shattered last year in the International Court of Justice, leading the country’s defense against genocide charges.
But at home, where extremist monks love sectarian flames, some in the Buddhist hinterland see it as the pawn of oil-filled seths instead. They worry that an Islamic wave will sweep over the Buddhist-majority Myanmar, which did so centuries ago from Afghanistan to Indonesia, even though only one percent of the country is Muslim.
Perhaps to counter this fear, the National League for Democracy did not field any Muslim candidates in 2015. At this point, there were only two. (On Sunday, both candidates won one against Ms. I Thinzer Maung.)
“Aung San Suu Kyi’s government is not protecting the country,” said Yu Yu, a member of the nationalist Buddhist movement. “They are only building to show their power and have no skills in ruling the country.”
Hannah Beach reports from Bangkok and So Nange reports from Yangon, Myanmar.
