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2010 Elections: Special Feature with Constitution, Laws and Analysis
British PM calls election terms in Myanmar "restrictive and unfair"
No. 10 Downing Street Press Office - 15 March 2010
The background states that: "The laws have been published ahead of the election in the country later this year. They prohibit anyone convicted by a court from joining a political party - excluding National League for Democracy (NLD) party leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, from taking part."
Note by Network Myanmar: It is not clear whether the laws are aimed at anyone who has at any time been convicted of any offence, or only at those currently serving a prison sentence. Suu Kyi is not actually in prison, but her status under Articles 2(l) and 4(e) of the Political Parties Registration Law 2/2010 of 8 March 2010 has yet to be clarified.
The Wall Street Journal - 15 March 2010
"We are not with the NLD, we are not with the government. We are in the middle. We are formed for the sake of the country and the people. Let's hope that we will be successful. We are sure we will be successful. A lot of people have come to understand that there is no point fighting with the present regime." Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein is the daughter of former Prime Minister U Nu prior to the 1962 military coup. Also from WSJ of 15 March 2010: "New movement eyes Myanmar race."
Myanmar criticises UN Special Rapporteur Quintana's report
Agence France-Presse - 15 March 2010
"We strongly condemn and reject these recommendations and the report as a whole," Myanmar envoy Wunna Maung Lwin told the Human Rights Council today, referring to a report by the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in Burma. Pointing to paragraphs referring to possible crimes against humanity which could prompt an UN inquiry, Burma's ambassador in Geneva said such recommendations "violate the right of a sovereign state". He also charged that the report to the council contained "unfounded allegations" from "unverifiable sources" and that the rapporteur, Tomas Quintana, had referred to issues which fell outside his mandate.
The Brookings Institute - 14 March 2010
No respected Burmese scholar in the world expects the elections later this year to be credible by U.S. or Western standards. However, it could be a blunder of the first order to ignore the potential of these elections to be a meaningful step toward better governance in this strategically-located country of 50 million people. Before rushing to judgment, Americans should pay close attention to what the Burmese inside the country say and do. Americans should also give considerable weight to the views of Burma’s ASEAN partners plus China, India, and Japan. After all, those most impacted by Burma’s actions are its Asian neighbors, not the United States.
Burma: to go or not to go
Democratic Voice of Burma - 12 March 2010
Helen Bond recounts in a balanced, sensitive and informative article the benefits to travellers as well as to the Burmese people of ordinary tourism to Myanmar. This will not please the ideologues of Tourism Concern and the Burma Campaign UK whose arguments that income goes into the pockets of the regime are shown to be greatly exaggerated. Myanmar is currently experiencing a mini-boom in tourism, with hotels and flights fully booked though the infrastructure is very modest and full capacity is reached only too easily.
Britain looks to seize on US "momentum" to improve ties
Myanmar Times - 8-16 March 2010
The British Government is ready to kick start the European Union’s diplomatic dealings with the country if it sees progress on key issues from the Myanmar authorities, the British ambassador to Myanmar told The Myanmar Times last month. The engagement with the US has created a sense of momentum and, while there hasn’t been any significant movement yet, “we don’t want that momentum to be lost”, Mr Andrew Heyn said. Real progress could result in economic sanctions being “dismantled” if certain political issues are addressed, Mr Heyn said.
The Burmese version of this interview is available by clicking here
"Political Situation of the Union of Myanmar and its Role in the Region."
Authored by Col Hla Min, Department of International Affairs and Research, Ministry of Defence
[28th Edition April 2004: Pages 52-53 - the link above is to the almost identicial 21st Edition November 1999: see Pages 17-19]
"There is also another false assumption where her being under house restriction during the election period denied her the right to run for the 1990 election. While under house restriction the Government of Myanmar consented to Ms Suu Kyi's request to contest the election representing Bahan Township Constituency 1 and her name was enrolled on 1 December 1989. Objections were lodged by various individuals and political parties against the permission granted to Ms Suu Kyi to contest the forthcoming elections with reference to the provisions of the Pyithu Hluttaw Election Law of 1989. Legally, granting Ms Suu Kyi the right to contest the elections was found to violate Section 8(b)..... [about permanent residence] 10(e)..... [about allegiance to a foreign power] and 10(h)..... [about links with terrorists]."
Comment by Network Myanmar: Ms Suu Kyi is not currently serving a term of imprisonment in prison, but her residence is restricted under a Directive dated 10 August 2009 from Sen Gen Than Shwe to the Ministry of Home Affairs . Ms Suu Kyi is appealing against her conviction, but from restricted residence, and not while serving a prison term. The National League for Democracy might wish to consider clarifying the status of her restricted residence and thus her eligibility to contest the elections, subject to other criteria, as she is not in fact in prison.
1990 election results formally annulled
Reuters (Yangon) - 11 March 2010
Agency reports make it clear that the annulment of the results of the 1990 elections is apparent from Article 91 of the Pyithu Hluttaw Law No. 3/2010 which reads: “Pyithu Hluttaw Electoral Law 14/89 issued by State Law and Order Restoration Council is repealed by this law. The results of the multi-party general election in accord with the repealed law are invalid because the results do not conform with the [2008] Constitution.”
17-Member Election Commission appointed
Deutsche Presse-Agentur - 11 March 2010
The military regime has announced the appointment of a 17-member Election Commission headed by U Thein Soe, a Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Agency reports add that among the other 16 members Dr. Myint Kyi and Khin Hla Myint are women. The other 14 members are Zaw Naw, Khin Maung Nu, Soe Ba Hlaing, Dr. Ba Maung, Nyunt Tin, Maung Tha Hla, Dr. Sai Khum Hlaing, Aung Myint, Myint Naing, Dr. Tin Aung Aye, Tha Oo, Dr. Maung Htoo, Tha Htay and Win Kyi. Before becoming a civilian judge Thein Soe served in Burma's armed forces as a Major General and was a military Judge Advocate General. Little is known about any of the other new nominees except that Dr. Tin Aung Aye is also a judge. Recent media reports indicate that both Thein Soe and Dr. Tin Aung Aye are still serving as judges and not yet retired.
Myanmar releases details of the Pyithu Hluttaw (National Assembly) Law
People's Daily Online - 11 March 2010
The People's Daily summarises the main provisions of the Pyithu Hluttaw Law No. 3/2010 of 8 March 2010, the text of which has today been published in Burmese.
Myanmar laws sharply criticised
BBC News - 11 March 2010
A range of reactions from Western sources and the Philippines critical of the election laws now being published. British Ambassador Andy Heyn is alone in saying:"We're going to need to study the election laws carefully once they've all been released."
Myanmar lets Suu Kyi's party reopen regional offices
Reuters (Yangon) - 11 March 2010
"So far as we have heard, about 100 branch offices have been reopened across the country, effective Wednesday," said Nyan Win, a spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD). He gave a guarded welcome to the government's move."Yes, it's a positive step," he said. "I think they want us to take part in the election, but we still haven't made up our mind about this. We still need to talk it over among the top [NLD] leaders, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi."
National League for Democracy granted permission to reopen branches
Associated Press (Yangon) - 10 March 2010
The National League for Democracy has been authorised to reopen its 35 township branch offices in Yangon as well as in other districts across the country. The action followed a decision earlier today to disqualify Suu Kyi from participating in upcoming national elections.
Note by Network Myanmar: Although it is widely assumed that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is now disqualified from standing for any Assembly, or being an officer of the NLD or even a party member because of the provisions of Law No. 2/2010 which debar any person currently serving a prison sentence from so acting, we await formal confirmation of the significance of the directive dated 10 August 2009 remitting half of any sentence passed on 11 August 2009 and suspending the remainder, while requiring her to reside at her home under restriction. Whether this is tantamount to "serving a prison term" is not yet clear to us. In the 1990 Elections, restricted residence under the 1975 State Protection Law was not regarded as "serving a prison term" and Suu Kyi was not debarred on those, but on other grounds, from standing for Parliament.
Myanmar election law puts Suu Kyi's party in bind
Reuters (Yangon) - 10 March 2010
Under the second of five new election laws, being published gradually in state media, the military government is making Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) and some other parties re-register within 60 days with a new election commission. Failure to do so means they will have to fold. But to register, they have to exclude party members who are serving prison terms. That would include Suu Kyi, who has spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention and is now serving 18 months in house detention for breaching security laws. Many other senior NLD members are among more than 2,000 political prisoners in Myanmar, according to rights activists. "We find some of the provisions in this law very unfair and completely unacceptable. We feel sure this law will not be conducive to national reconciliation in our country at all," NLD spokesman Nyan Win told Reuters. Parties wanting to register will also have to give a written commitment to uphold the constitution passed in 2008, which the NLD rejects and campaigned against. "It's completely impossible for us," Nyan Win said.
Myanmar's Suu Kyi faces new law: spokesman
Agence France-Presse - 10 March 2010
"I have noticed that we have to expel Daw Suu. Their attitude is clear in this law," NLD spokesman Nyan Win told AFP. "I was extremely surprised when I saw this. I did not think it would be so bad." The new law also gives the NLD 60 days to register as a party if it wants to take part in the elections, which the junta has promised sometime this year. The NLD has not yet decided whether it wants to participate. Under Suu Kyi's leadership the party won Myanmar's last elections in 1990 by a landslide but the military regime annulled the result. Suu Kyi has been in detention for 14 of the subsequent 20 years. Suu Kyi was already barred from standing as a candidate under a new constitution approved in a 2008 referendum, under a clause stipulating that those married to foreign nationals are not eligible.
Note by Network Myanmar: The Political Parties Registration Law № 2/2010 of 8 March 2010 sets the conditions for registration as a political party and for participation in the forthcoming elections. These conditions are based on the criteria set out in Chapter X of the 2008 Constitution, Articles 404 - 409. According to agency reports, a "national" party for the National Assembly (Pyithu Hluttaw) must have at least 1,000 members and 15 founding members, while "regional" parties for other Assemblies need a minimum of 500 members (and the same number of founding members). Parties, both old and new, must register within 60 days of the enactment of the Law on 8 March 2010. A party must contest at least three Assembly seats to avoid deregistration. Any person serving a term in prison is debarred from helping to form a political party or even from being a member of a political party. Parties will be required to accept and practise "a genuine and discipline-flourishing multi-party democratic system" and be loyal to the State. A refusal to accede to these criteria would result in the rejection of a party's application to register.
So far as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is concerned, her present status is far from clear. In the 1990 elections she was not ineligible to stand for election because of her restricted residence at the time under the 1975 State Protection Law. She was debarred on other grounds. In 2010 she is subject to restricted residence in accordance with a directive issued by Senior General Than Shwe on 10 August 2009 a day before her conviction. It is not clear whether the current period of her restricted residence has the same status as that of her previous conviction under the 1975 Law, that is, whether her suspended sentence means that she is under a disability in standing for election under Law № 2/2010. She would have the right of appeal if her application to stand for election to the National Assembly (for which she would not appear to be ineligible on the grounds of her former marriage to a foreigner - see Page 11 of the ICG Report "Myanmar: Towards the Elections") was rejected for any reason. There could also be doubt, if she is held to be "in prison", about her continuing membership of the National League for Democracy and her status in the NLD as Secretary-General; this may never have been regularised after she stood down from that position after her detention in 1989 and sought to resume in 1995. See New Light of Myanmar dated 9 March 2008 on the "right of appeal from the basic to the highest level", a promise made to UN Special Adviser Ibrahim Gambari on 8 March 2008.
Publication of the Union Election Commission Law No. 1/2010
AFP (Yangon) - 9 March 2010
Burmese-language newspapers today carry as a supplement the Burmese-language text of the Union Electoral Commission No. 1/2010 of the SPDC of 8 March 2010 . As expected, the law is based on the principles contained in Articles 398-402 of the 2008 Constitution, but is valid only for the first elections before the new Constitution comes into operation.
Burmese Text - Union Election Commission Law No. 1/2010 of 8 March 2010
Unofficial English translation of Law No. 1/2010 of 8 March 2010
UN Secretary-General expresses election concerns to Senior General Than Shwe
Reuters (UN) - 8 March 2010
Ban Ki-moon has said that he wrote to Senior General Than Shwe 10 days ago "expressing my concern about this lack of progress" on democratic reforms and emphasizing the importance of ensuring that this year's vote is "most credible, inclusive and transparent."
Kurt Campbell: "No change in Burma"
Interview in Washington - 8 March 2010
US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell is expected to visit Myanmar in the very near future. He expresses his views on the current state of the US-Myanmar dialogue. "I think the key for the United States is we have got to be committed: committed to our principles, committed to our values, to our friends, and we have to be consistent and we do have to demonstrate some patience in the process. This is not a set of circumstances that are going to change overnight. And it will have to be through a strategic and cunning [?] approach on the part of Western friends and others to see a more positive way forward. So I stand by my early statement: painful, difficult and challenging, and it will take longer than people had hoped or anticipated."
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