Rathidaung: U Oo Bo Thein, Chairman of the Rakhine State Chamber of Commerce and Industry, or CCI, will run in the forthcoming 2010 election in Rathidaung Township, said one town elder.

"U Oo Bo Thein has been renting a house in Rathidaung since August 2009 and the house is now being opened as a campaign office for the 2010 election," he said.

The house being rented by U Oo Bo Thein was owned by the late Khin Maung Shwe in Roon Tet Land in Rathidaung's Chaung Wa Ward. Rathidaung is located on the eastern banks of the Mayu River 20 miles north of Arakan's State capital Sittwe.

"He is now organizing people from our township by giving presents like money, food, and cloth to them in order to gain their support in the 2010 election. But he has not told us if he will run in the 2010 election as an individual or for a party," the elder said.

According to another local source, U Oo Bo Thein recently conducted several visits to rural Rathidaung Township to organize people for the 2010 election.

U Oo Bo Thein is an Arakanese national born in Zaydi Daung Village in Buthidaung Township, next to Rathidaung. He is also a close associate of the Burmese military junta.

There is no election rule in Burma so far, but many individuals and organizations close to the government are working in Arakan state in preparation for the election.

In the 1990 election, one representative from the National League for Democracy and the Arakan League for Democracy won in two constituencies in Rathidaung.