The election commission invited 10 parties to the capital, Naypyitaw, on Tuesday morning and asked them whether they wanted to postpone the election because of the floods. “The main reasons are the current natural disasters and unstable situation in the country”, Zeyar Maung, an official at the Union Election Commission headquarters, told Reuters.
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The NLD was the only party to oppose the move, while the remaining three, the Arakan National Party, National Unity Party and National Democratic Force did not come down on either side.
Instead, U Tin Aye said that the lingering effects of flooding that swept the country in July and August, killing more than 100 people, cast doubt on whether the election could be held fairly in flood-hit areas.
Win Htein, a central executive committee member of Ms. Suu Kyi’s party-which is fielding the largest number of candidates-said that a postponement of the vote “absolutely can not happen”.
“We will accept if they postpone the floods in a few areas where flooding and landslides have really affected the people, but not in all areas”, he said, speaking from Falam, a town in Chin state, where he says roads are still accessible, though imperfect and unpaved, as in much of the country.
A senior opposition politician later told media that election authorities had proposed delaying the entire vote nationwide, with just weeks to go before the scheduled November 8 polling day.
Government officials met later with the election commission and decided that a delay would cause a variety of problems, officials said. I think the government, the ruling party and the election commission, are coordinating and collaborating to implement their strategy and tactics. However, Myanmar’s rainy season ends this month. But as news of the possible postponement filtered through, the mood changed.
Although the delay has not been confirmed, the reports will raise concerns over interference by the country’s entrenched military rulers in what has being touted as Myanmar’s first free and fair general election.
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“It is losing the right to vote in the villages that are under [the Kachin Independence Army]”, she said.
