Clearly at an advantage because no rivals have been approved yet by the Union Election Commission, the Burmese junta backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is compiling a list of eligible voters on computers for the elections later this year, in Myitkyina, capital of Burma’s Northern Kachin State, said local sources.
Hand-written voters’ lists in Myitkyina Township are being sent to all computer shops for compilation by enthusiastic local members of the USDP since June 28, a computer shop owner told Kachin News Group, today.
His shop received a list of about 1,000 voters written by hand from local USDP members. The list has been titled “Name of voters and lists of ballots for election”.
Over a dozen computer shops in the capital are busy typing out the voters’ lists, said sources.
The same exercise was undertaken during the 2008 referendum of the constitution but this time the computer shops are being paid, said local computer shop owners.
During the last two months, a census was undertaken in Myitkyina Township by local military officials.
As of now, no local rival political parties in Kachin State have been approved for contesting the forthcoming elections by the junta’s handpicked Union Election Commission (UEC) members except the USDP.
The Kachin State Progressive Party (KSPP) led by Kachin politicians, which could be the main rival of the junta’s USDP, registered with the Naypyitaw-based UEC in early April but approval remains elusive, said party leader Dr. Manam Tu Ja.
On the hurried advice of USDP leaders, a new Kachin party the Kachin State Unity and Democracy Party- KSUDP, was floated in Myitkyina, last week by Kachin members of the USDP. It is has been registered with the UEC, according to party sources.
The UEC has approved 38 parties from among 42 applicants for contesting the elections but none of the four Kachin political parties has been recognized by the Commission yet.
Civilians and civil workers in Kachin State are not even remotely interested in the junta’s elections because they are aware of the election result--- the regime’s USDP will win the polls.
