News
Election brings hope, fear for Myanmar refugees stuck in limbo
For refugees from Myanmar living in camps just across the border in Thailand, a landmark election in their homeland triggers mixed emotions – hope that a hated government will be defeated, and fear of the uncertain future such an upheaval might bring. Ko Chit, 45, who ...
UN chief hits out at Myanmar election ‘hate speech’
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hit out on Monday at “extreme elements” in Myanmar who are sowing hate speech and bigotry towards religious minorities, days before the country votes in landmark elections. Myanmar heads to the polls on 8 November in what observers are hoping will ...
Burma’s Minorities Fear USDP Election Victory
During nearly seven decades the villages of the Karen have been torched, their men summarily executed and their women raped as the ethnic minority battled Burma’s military regime in the world’s longest-running insurgency. Their homeland has been called the “hidden Darfur,” where some 350,000 people ...
ANP aims for two-thirds of Rakhine State’s seats
As the two major national parties, the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party and the opposition National League for Democracy, square off in advance of the November 8 election, attention is also being directed to the prospects of the country’s many ethnic-based parties. The Arakan ...
Released documents detail Rakhine State persecution
Broadcaster Al Jazeera on 29 October released a cache of documents detailing the persecution of Muslims in Rakhine State, including an internal UN memo and confidential military training manuals. Keep reading ...
Advance polling kicks off
Advance voting got under way on 29 October for those unable to cast a ballot in their constituencies on polling day next weekend, many of whom are soldiers and civil servants. The early ballot comes after overseas nationals cast advance votes earlier this month ahead of the ...
UN rights envoy raises election credibility fears
The special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar on 29 October told one of the United Nations highest-level bodies that she is not convinced the coming election will be free and fair. Yanghee Lee criticised the candidate scrutiny process for being non-transparent and for seemingly arbitrarily disqualifying ...
After 2010 fraud, advance vote concerns remain in Kayah State
In 2010, shortly before the 7 November election, U Tun Shwe, a local administrator and Union Solidarity and Development Party official from Chigwe village, Bawlakhe township, was given an unusual task: Place a tick on blank ballot forms next to the USDP logo. The votes were ...
NLD candidates struggle for attention in northern Arakan State
Candidates for Myanmar’s main opposition party are continuing to face hurdles campaigning in Arakan State, with local administrators in several townships reportedly declining to facilitate the party’s activities. The Irrawaddy spoke with six candidates from the National League for Democracy (NLD) competing in races in northern Arakan ...
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 ...
