Myanmar ready for April 1 polls, opens door to global observers
Suu Kyi cites widespread poll irregularities
Source: The Sangai Express / Agencies
Yangon, March 30 2012:
Myanmar has sent out a surprisingly broad guest list for elections on Sunday, hoping to showcase its democratic credentials to the world.
The by-election is likely to mark a symbolic turning point by bringing opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi into parliament for the first time, an event that would raise hopes for a more representative government after a halfcentury of repressive military rule.
With less than 7% of the chambers' seats contested, the polling will not shift power away from the military-dominated ruling party.
Still, the government hopes foreign observers endorse the polling to help lift the country's pariah status.
Uncharacteristically, the formerly hermetic country is allowing the US and more than a dozen other countries to send observers to monitor the vote boosting hopes that this will be Myanmar's freest and fairest election in decades.
Experts caution against setting the bar too high, noting that transparency takes time and that these elections are being held on Myanmar's terms.
"Let's not ask if these elections will be free and fair.
Those are big words.
Let's focus on if they're credible," said Somsri Hananuntasuk, head of the Bangkok-based elected watchdog Asian Network for Free Elections.
"The country is opening up bit by bit.
There is progress, but there are still problems" .
Just as Myanmar was making headlines last week for its historic invitation to foreign observers, immigration officials were quietly deporting Somsri and two other monitors from her group.
After a week in Yangon, she was greeted at her hotel last Wednesday by 10 immigration officials, who questioned her for an hour, scolded her for entering Myanmar on a tourist visa and then escorted her to the airport.
Meanwhile, democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi said Myanmar's elections cannot be called free and fair because of widespread irregularities, but that she is pressing forward with her candidacy in Sunday's polling for the sake of the country.
Suu Kyi made the comments at a news conference on Friday, two days before by-elections that are being closely watched by the international community.
The 66-year-old Nobel peace laureate listed irregularities that go "beyond what is acceptable for democratic elections." She said the polls will not be "genuinely free and fair" but that "we are determined to go forward" .
"I don't think we can consider it genuinely free and fair if we consider what has been going on for the last couple months," Suu Kyi said.
"We've had to face many irregularities" .
Suu Kyi is expected to win her first seat in Parliament in Sunday's vote.
The polls are seen as a crucial test of Myanmar's commitment to democratic reforms.