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Myanmar proposes delaying November 8 elections due to flooding

Election Commission Chairman Tin Aye did not make clear whether polls might be delayed across the country or just in parts hit by bad weather in the west and north-west.

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It could also raise questions over the readiness of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which includes many members of Myanmar’s former junta, to accept the results of the poll.

Win Htein said the NLD had been the only party present at Tuesday’s meeting to oppose the move to postpone the vote. However, the UEC has the authority to act on the issue with or without the approval of political parties.

“It is still undecided yet whether to postpone the election”.

No decision was announced at the conclusion of the meeting.

Severe floods since July have killed at least 80 people and temporarily displaced about 1.6 million, according to United Nations statistics, but flooding has eased since then.

“The postponement of the elections in Myanmar, even on reasonable grounds and by a short time, would seriously shake confidence in the willingness of the incumbent elite to further the political transition”, said Romain Caillaud, senior director, global risk and investigations practice at FTI Consulting in Singapore.

Myanmar’s election is being closely watched as the biggest test yet of reforms made since the military handed back a few of its power to quasi-civilian rule in 2011.

The parties were invited based on the number of candidates registered in the election.

A spokesman for the National League for Democracy told the BBC that parties met officials on Tuesday to discuss postponing the 8 November poll.

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Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said last week that she plans to lead the country if her party triumphs despite a ban on her serving as president, a bold statement to the country’s military rulers who are paranoid over the NLD’s domestic and worldwide popularity.

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