160 candidates vying to represent 17 political parties, to fill the 48 vacant seats. 159 international observers and 300 foreign journalists will monitor the elections. For the opposition leaders the polls are not "truly free and fair", but there is a need to "move forward". Protests of those excluded from the electoral roll, which register citizens who have died a long time ago.

Yangon (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Tomorrow, April 1st Burmese people will go to the polls for by-elections, in which 48 MPs will be chosen to fill the vacant seats. Compared to the November 2010 elections - the first since the 1990 vote, won by a landslide by the National League for Democracy (NLD) but never recognized by military the junta - the main opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who also run. Her election to the Assembly is almost a given. On the eve of the vote, the Nobel Peace Laureate said she could not deem this election "truly free and fair" because there have been several irregularities, but adds that "we are determined to go forward because that is what our people want." She has appealed to citizens, asking for their support to continue on the "path of democratization" of Myanmar.

Exceptionally, the seats were open yesterday and today for those who are eligible to vote early: these include patients, students, prisoners and officials who - April 1 - will not be in their constituencies. To ensure the regularity of the voting procedure there will be 159 international observers, a novelty compared to the 2010 parliamentary elections, including foreign diplomats, journalists and sector specialists. However, in recent days some activists have underlined that "at least six months" are needed to prepare an adequate monitoring of the polls, while the Burmese government granted clearance only two weeks earlier. And two women Mps from Australia, working to promote human rights, were rejected entry visas.

The election will have 160 candidates representing 17 parties, including the NLD and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USPD), an emanation of the former military junta in power. Throughout Myanmar 8,324 polling stations have been set up. The official results, relayed by the Electoral Commission, will be made public within a week. However in some areas of Kachin State, in the north, the vote was postponed for fear of possible violence between the army and the militia close to the ethnic minority. The elections were held to fill the 48seats vacated (of 664 total, 6%) by deputies who now hold ministerial positions. The media can not cross the threshold of the polling stations, but can follow the vote only from the outside. In all there will be 300 international media representatives, compared to 600 applications for accreditation submitted in recent weeks to the Burmese authorities.

Meanwhile the first reports of irregularities have emerged: NLD reports that in some areas, including the constituency in which Aung San Suu Kyi is running, hundreds of names of deceased persons have been added to the lists, while at least 1,300 eligible voters were excluded. The authorities say they are "errors" due to the fact that the lists of voters are based on the general elections of November 2010. The President Thein Sein is trying to down play the controversy, urging the country to "support the purpose of free and fair elections", while admitting that there were "avoidable errors" and calling for "respect for the decision of the people." However, a voter from Mandalay, excluded from voting for an alleged delay in registration on the lists, announces the intention to protest before the polling station, holding a sign reading "My right to vote 'Yes' to the NLD has been denied."

The next general election, for the new parliament, is scheduled in 2015.

 

• Myanmar
• Aung
• San
• Suu
• Kyi
• Democracy
• Elections
• Human
• Rights
• military
• regime