Moe Kyaw — While political parties have been campaigning hard for the upcoming election across the country, Chin State candidates are facing difficulties in campaigning due to bad transportation in the wake of a recent natural disaster.
U Chan Pum from the Chin National Democratic Party, who is running in Hakha Township for a seat in the Upper House, said that because of the flooding and subsequent landslides that hit Chin State at the end of July much of the state remains cut off from transportation so the candidates can only campaign in the towns and are unable to travel to rural areas.
“We can’t carry out the campaign. We can only deliver speeches in the towns. We used to be able to travel to these areas with motorcycles and cars, but now we can’t. A journey that used to take only three hours now takes a day. The situation is bad. We have to take four or five days to go on a two-day journey. We have to go on foot,” he said.
Zomi Congress for Democracy’s spokesperson U Cin Sung Mang also said the party began campaigning in Tedim (also spelled Tiddim) and Ton Zang areas, but bad transportation has been hindering the campaign's progress.
“Transportation is the main issue. Cars can’t run on the roads and only motorcycles can run on them so the trips have been delayed. We have to take great measures. The body can’t follow the mind. But, we are doing our best to start the campaign,” he said.
According to U Chan Pum, the majority of Chin State residents are largely uninterested in the election because they had to struggle for their daily living as a result of the recent natural disaster.
“The public is struggling for their livelihoods. They aren’t interested in politics. They only think about how they should eat,” said U Chan Pum.
According to statistics released by the Chin State government on August 31, 1,103 homes collapsed or were destroyed by the disaster. The losses are estimated to be more than 2 Billion kyat. Another 1,781 houses need to be relocated which will cost an estimated 8.9 billion kyat. There are 14,979 internally displaced people in Chin State as result of the natural disaster.
There are 39 constituencies in Chin State and a total of 209 candidates running in the state. There are 202 candidates from 13 political parties and 7 independent candidates running in next month's election.
Translated by Thida Linn with editing by BNI staff.
