Voters in remote areas of Karen State have not received any electoral information to help them decide whom to vote for. Villagers say aside from knowing that their household registrations have been taken for the purpose of the November 7 election, they have little information on which parties are contesting, who will be the candidates or even what electorate they are in.

Saw Ta M’la Paw (63), a villager from Kawkreik Township is not surprised with the current situation as he experienced the last election in1990, where there was no specific information until the day soldiers came and talked about ‘their party’ and took all the votes from villagers.

“They summoned us and talked about how good their party was and told villagers to vote for it. We didn’t even know at the time what party they were talking about, but we recognized their logo and realized it was the NUP party,” he says.

Saw Ta M’la Paw says the whole process took at most two hours for the soldiers to collect all the votes as only some villagers showed up.

“I think only 100 out of 1,000 eligible voters from our village voted. It was fast. There was no ballot paper or box, villagers who were voting were told to just say ‘yes’ and they [soldiers] recorded it in their booklist. They had all household registrations with them and they knew how many eligible voters there were. They didn’t complain that only 10 per cent turned out but we were not sure what they did with the other 90 percent of eligible voters ” he adds.

Saw Ta M’la Paw said villagers didn’t know how many parties contested in their electorate during the 1990 election. He said that he had never seen any civilian parties in his area.

“No civilian party could reach us during the 1990 election. It was an [Burma] army Column Commander who led the voting in our village.”

Saw Ta M’la Paw believes that in his district, the 2010 election will not be any different from the last election.

“The 2010 election and the 1990 election are not different. During the previous election, the soldiers came with the NUP and now the soldiers will come with the USDP,” he says.

Media reports on the election have said that the USDP, formerly the USDA, had been planning for the coming election even before their party officially existed. It has been reported their campaign activities include building bridges, roads, setting up telephone landlines in remote areas giving gifts to local village heads.

The USDP campaign began in March this year when under the auspices of the USDA, it began work on an all-weather car road from Kyain Seikgyi to Kyaik Don.

A local religious leader said the USDA made it clear to the villagers that the money used for the road project was not from the government, but a donation from the USDA.

“They told us at a public meeting that the road was a donation to the villagers from the USDA, but the money was only for concrete and materials and the village had to supply the labour.”

The people of Kyaik Don are not the only ones to receive ‘election gifts’ from the USDP. Other villages in the electorate of Kyain Seikgyi have received free reading glasses, telephone access and some headmen received much-valued television satellite discs. A local villager from Bellamu village explained how the USDA/USDP gifts work. “They [USDP] came and set up telephone lines in some villages. They give gifts to the headmen to get their support. If the headman says yes to the USDP the villagers will follow.”

Saw Ta M’la Paw says one benefit of the coming election has been the rapid issuing of identity cards by local immigration officers.

“Since late 2009, it has been easier to get ID cards. The immigration officers are welcoming people who don’t have IDs and are issuing them, even to people who don’t have household registration.”

Five political parties will contest in the Kyain Seikgyi electorate, but the military regime backed USDP has got an unfair advantage and head start on its rivals.