Myanmar pledges free and fair election in 2015

The chairman of Myanmar’s Union Election Commission has vowed that the 2015 general election will be free and fair and that voting lists will be complied without interference.

The commission has already begun compiling comprehensive lists of voters, commission chairman Tin Aye said.

Candidates will be given sufficient time for campaigning, rules will be transparent and campaigns to educate voters, including ethnic minority voters, will be held, he said.

Tin Aye also said the government had yet to schedule by-elections for vacant seats.

Voting will be held in every state and region including Kachin if it returns to normal, he said.

Although the commission and its sub-commissions are responsible for ensuring that voting lists are comprehensive, voters and political parties need to cooperate in the process and potential voters should ensure their names are on the list, Tin Aye said.

Htay Oo, vice chairman of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, said his party welcomed Tin Aye’s public commitment to a free and fair general election.

Advanced and approved voting lists should be publicised in their constituencies and any corrections should be made public as well, Htay Oo added.

Representatives of political parties said holders of temporary identity cards should be reviewed in accord with the 1982 citizenship law and that systematic measures should be made to avoid mistakes in advance voting.

Shan Nationalities Democratic Party central committee member Than Than Shwe said that the voting lists should be issued three months ahead of the election and the public should be informed about any supplements to them. Late votes should not be counted and educational programmes should be broadcast in ethnic languages, Than Than Shwe added.

Education programmes for the 2015 general election will be conducted in ethnic languages, officials said.