Mai Kaung Saing — Residents of Namhsan Township in northern Shan State’s Palaung Self-Administered Zone are not ready for the upcoming election, Ta’ang (Palaung) National Party (TNP) Lower House candidate for the Township told BNI Election Newsroom on Sunday. In the 2010, the TNP won this seat by default because there were no other candidates running in Namhsan Township, meaning that people did not cast any votes and remain unfamiliar with the voting process.
In the upcoming election, the TNP will be competing with the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in Namhsan Township. During the campaign period, all three parties have been focusing on electoral education to encourage the public to use their voting rights on Election Day.
The TNP has been campaigning in groups across Namhsan Township’s 123 villages and 32 village tracts due to lack of time, said an TNP member.
“When we carried out our campaign, we got a positive response from the public. They seemed to be excited to vote [in the election], but when we held a demonstration role-play of the voting process there were many invalid ballots,” said U Mai Win Htoo, a Lower House candidate from the TNP, adding “there are still people who ask us to add them to the voter list. There have been too many errors in the voter list. Many villagers said they don’t understand [the voting process] clearly due to a lack of experience and a high level of illiteracy even though we did our best to explain the Election Law. The Election Commission has not carried out voter education in the villages. The public are not ready for the election,”
U Mai Win Htoo alleges that the NLD have canvassed for votes in Manauk Village Tract by claiming to have the ability to make the residents earn 500,000 kyats per month and that the roads would immediately become paved roads the next day if the NLD wins in the election. He explained that he had to meet with the public again and urge the public not to misunderstand the promises of the NLD, and that the TNP will carry out regional development if its candidates are elected.
“We worry that the election will not be free and fair. We also worry that there will be many ballots deemed invalid and that the polling station monitoring groups will not be able to work systematically. We worry that people will not be able to speak-up bravely in line with the election law if something goes wrong,” said U Mai Win Htoo.
From October 22 to 30 the TNP held “flag entrusting” ceremonies and polling station monitoring workshops at TNP party offices in Namhsan, Mantong, Namtu, Kutkai, Muse, Namkham and Kyaukme townships in northern Shan State, and Mogok township in Mandalay Region.
