Kyaw Myint aka Li Yongqiang (51) a candidate of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), and a well-known Panhsay militia chief from Namkham is reportedly disbursing money and presents to villagers who attend his campaign rallies as well as cash donations to monasteries, sources on the Sino-Burma border said.

Kyaw Myint will contest for a seat in the lower house from Namkham constituency No.2.

“He donated Kyat 300,000 (US$ 300) to the monastery saying it was for the village’s fund. Afterwards, those who attended the meeting were given Kyat 2,000 (US$2), a T-Shirt and a hat with a USDP logo,” a local resident in Hart-hin village said.

His campaign rally in Hart-hin was on 1 November. Similar activities also took place in Kunhai and Nawngtern villages. Each village was said to have received the same amount of money and the same gifts as Hart-hin village.

Again on 3 November, he donated Kyat 5 million (US $5,000) to Namkham High School, an elder said.

“His monetary donation has made people suspect he is buying votes indirectly,” he said.

Local villagers also said that some of them were so frightened of Kyaw Myint that they had decided to vote for the USDP. He was said to have brought dozens of armed militiamen along with him on his campaign trip.

“His troops were in full militia uniforms and had all sorts of weapons, from Bazooka to machine guns,” another villager from Kunhai said.

Kyaw Myint was a representative at the NC, in the national races category. He is known more for his drug business. Yongyang Casino on the Mao-Shweli River near Muse is owned by him. Many ferry crossings on the Mao-Ruili River that serves as a boundary between China and Burma are guarded by Kyaw Htwe aka Li Yongping, younger brother of Kyaw Myint, who enjoys close relations with former regional commander Myint Hlaing. His men tax wayfarers and he is also reportedly into drug trafficking.

As for people from 13 villages across the Mao (Shweli), where a 200-strong Task Force 701 of anti-Naypyitaw Shan State Army (SSA) “South” is active, may have to come to the town and cast votes because local authorities are saying that the area is unstable.

The number of estimated voters from the area will be around 4,000, according to a village headman.