Ethnic Kachin youth in the former controlled areas of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB), in eastern Burma, are crossing into neighboring China, to avoid the 2010 Burmese Election being held on Sunday, according to local sources.

Dozens of Kachin young people in Mungbaw, Mongkoe, Hpawng Seng and Pang Sai, in Northern Shan State, have gone to different border towns in China’s Yunnan province since the third week of October, local people said.

Mongkoe resident, Bum Htoi, said 80 percent of the young people in those areas ranging in age from 17 to 35 already fled to towns in Yunnan province including Ruili, Mangshi (Dehong), Longling, Baoshan, Yingjiang and Jang Hkong (Longchuan in Chinese).

Parents in northern Shan State and Burma are saying hundreds of Kachin young people are fleeing to China rather than helping their parents harvest rice.

According to Bum Htoi, Kachin young people do not want to vote for the Burmese military junta’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), and want to avoid military recruitment conducted by the junta-backed local militia groups and the Burmese Army.

The Mungbaw Militia, led by Du Kying Mai (aka Ma Kying), the Hpawng Seng militia group, led by Duwa Lau Yawng, the Kutkai militia group led by, Duwa Hkun Myat, and the Mongkoe militia group, led by Duwa Zuk Dau and Naw Hkam, are making fresh military recruitment drives, according to local residents.

Recruitment programs are also being initiated by three Burmese Army battalions in those areas--- Infantry battalion (IB) no. 45, from Kutkai, IB No. 123, from Nam Hpak Ka, and IB No. 145 from Hopang. They are also using local civilians as forced labor to construct military bunkers and roads on a daily basis, according to local people.

At the same time, local Kachin people and Chinese migrants in those areas have been aggressively pressured to vote for the junta-backed USDP party by local militia leaders and Burmese military authorities since August, locals said.

In Shan State and Kachin State, no Kachin independent parties and individual candidates authorized to contest the November 7 elections by the Burmese junta-controlled Union Election Commission.

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) which bases the two states is preparing for civil wars with the Burman-led military government in post election.

The Burman-led military junta ceased negotiations with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and threatened military retaliation on September 1, after the KIA refused to lay down its arms, according to KIA officials.

Most Kachin young men fleeing to Yunnan are working in house construction, whereas most young women are working in restaurants, where they are at risk for human trafficking to large Chinese cities outside Yunnan province, said local people.