Government
Elections
UN investigator questions if Myanmar poll can be free and fair
A United Nations rights investigator raised concern on 28 October about whether Myanmar’s election next month could be considered free and fair because dozens of candidates had been disqualified and hundreds of thousands of people denied the right to vote. Yanghee Lee, UN special rapporteur on rights in ...
Police investigate alleged attack on NLD candidates
Police are investigating allegations that the son of a prominent ruling-party politician rammed an opposition campaign convoy with his motorbike. The alleged attack took place on 18 October, in Zee Phyu Kone village in Naypyitaw’s Dekkhinathiri township. Keep reading ...
China pledges support for next Myanmar government regardless of winner
China will support the new government that emerges from next month’s elections in Myanmar no matter which party wins, senior officials told The Myanmar Times in Beijing. During an interview at a media forum in the Chinese capital last week, Sun Haiyan, director general of the ...
Ex-ruling party chair says USDP unlikely to win November poll
Speaking to reporters on the campaign trail in Pegu Division’s Phyu on 25 October, former ruling party chairman Shwe Mann has admitted the party will likely struggle in the upcoming general election. With 25 percent of seats in Myanmar’s legislature reserved for military appointees, the USDP needs ...
Thai expats to register online to vote
Expat Thais will be able to register to vote online in the next general election, a move which could boost overseas voter turnout, the Election Commission said on 22 October. Keep reading ...
Fighting raises vote doubt in Shan State
Election officials in central Shan State have called for the postponement of voting in two townships because of continued fighting between government forces and an ethnic armed group that has displaced at least 3000 civilians. Keep reading ...
Advanced voting prompts confusion
Election day is 8 November for most of Myanmar’s 32 million eligible voters, but advance voting – an extremely contentious issue in the 2010 polls – has already begun in some parts of the country. All states and regions have received their ballot papers, each carrying ...
Around 4 million voters shut out of Myanmar's election
When Myanmar votes next month in what has been billed as its first free and fair election in 25 years, Tun Lin, and around 4 million of his fellow citizens, won’t be taking part. Most, like the 33-year-old fisherman, are working overseas and have been unable to ...
Reconstruction promises exchanged for votes
In landslide-ravaged Chin State, displaced residents say the election has fallen to the bottom of their priority list, causing some parties to fear opportunist electioneering may be in the works. “I have to vote for whoever will give me a house to live in,” said Pu Lung ...
Myanmar arrests two for their mocking Facebook posts
Myanmar authorities have arrested a peace activist and a young woman for mocking the country’s powerful military in the latest crackdown on free speech ahead of landmark elections on 8 November. Human rights groups have condemned the military-dominated government for moving their repression into social media, ...
