Suu Kyi expects support from Myanmar Nagas
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Agencies
Yangon, September 29 2015:
Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, best known in the West as the face of democracy in Myanmar after winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, is expecting high hopes of receiving support from the country's ethnic Naga people since she started election campaign for her National League of Democracy (NLD) party in Thamanthi Township of Sagaing division recently.
Myanmar's general elections are scheduled for November 8, the first since a nominally civilian government was installed in 2011.Suu Kyi has been using Facebook to encourage people to vote, including video messages where she said that the elections were a crucial turning point for the country and that it was important the election was free and fair.
"For the first time in decades, our people will have a real chance of bringing about real change," the Nobel Peace Prize winner said recently.
President Thein Sein's ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) also responded with a message on his Facebook page, flaunting incoming investment, economic growth and reforms carried out by his military-backed government, which took power in 2011.The NLD ended its boycott of the military dominated political system in 2012 when it won dozens of seats in by-elections.
The NLD won an election in 1990 with a landslide but the junta did not recognise the result.
Though NLD may win most seats in the upcoming election, there are no guarantees the NLD would lead the executive.
The president, who is chosen in a parliamentary vote that includes the military, chooses his or her own cabinet, not necessarily from among political parties.
Myanmar's main opposition party launched an election manifesto that pledges to retain a "dignified" role for the military as a defender of democracy and consolidate government ministries to save costs.
Suu Kyi's NLD published the 28-page document on September 14 in which it is expected to perform well after decades on the political sidelines.
The election marks a major shift in Myanmar's political landscape, giving a platform to democratic activists crushed during a half-century of military rule that ended in 2011. However, despite the popularity of a party built around Suu Kyi's image as a hero of democracy, it has been criticised for a lack of inclusivity and for being vague about how it would govern.
It pledged to create farmers' unions, scrutinise investment to manage environmental impacts and follow a foreign policy that sides with "genuine democratic bases".
It says ministries would be reduced in number to ease pressure on the budget to make a "fully efficient" government.
The official campaign period for Myanmar's November 8 general election began on September 8 and will conclude on November 6.Nationwide, the NLD will square off against the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and dozens of ethnic political parties, including several in Kachin State.