“By using this chance correctly, we all will get a chance to found a genuine, democratic, federal country”.
Advertisement
But if Suu Kyi and Shwe Mann form a coalition – although he is no longer the USDP’s leader, he could probably bring a large chunk of his party with him – that coalition could elect a new president and form a government. “This time will be different”, says Win Lwin, a taxi driver from north Yangon, at the rally with his young son and wife. The country’s election commission, whose chairman has publicly backed the USDP, later scrubbed almost every Muslim politician from the candidate list.
“The NLD has decided as a party it is up to us to fill in the gap”, Suu Kyi said, discussing voter education.
The NLD campaign, “Time for Change”, certainly captures the prevailing mood all across the country. Her NLD party has not put forward a single Muslim candidate. “Our trumpcard is the Lady, and people will vote for her”, he told Outlook.
Top Photo – ( Jorge Silva / Reuters ) Aung San Suu Kyi speaks to media about the upcoming general elections, during a Thursday news conference at her home. Hundreds of political dissidents were freed from hellish military prisons and Aung San Suu Kyi – after years under house arrest – is now a member of parliament.
“The whole team, including the traveling press corps, watched the movie as we flew east across the Pacific back to Washington”, Clinton wrote in her book, “Hard Choices”.
Being personality-centric is perhaps kosher when the figure already stands for a strong idea-besides being the best guarantor of victory. The disenfranchisement at this election of perhaps a million Muslim voters, and the disqualification on spurious grounds of many Muslim candidates, deserves more scrutiny.
Another constitutional provision left in place was the allocation of 25 percent of the seats in both houses of parliament, the Amyotha Hluttaw and the Pyithu Hluttaw, to unelected military officers designated by the Tatmadaw commander-in-chief.
For its part, the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has been surprisingly absent from the streets of the two main commercial towns-Mandalay in the center of the country and Yangon. “This is their show-piece election where they move to the next stage of their constitution being implemented so whoever wins, they will have ultimate control”, Farmaner said.
Observers expect months of political horse-trading after the poll in the run up to a parliamentary vote to select a president early next year.
The most significant hurdle facing the NLD is the possibility that the election will not be free or fair.
A few 30 million of the 51 million population are registered to vote.
The morning – and weeks – after the election will be critically important. An ominous remark, for the GAD will supervise polling stations across the country.
“The Massachusetts Ba Tha are extremists, playing a political game”. “In the rural areas particularly, the senior monks are very influential. What they say is like an order”, says Yan Myo Thein, a political commentator and former political prisoner. “But those countries eventually reduced military involvement in parliament”.
Dr Cook indicated there could be room for improvement, noting that while the government has opened up the telecommunications industry and increased funding for education and healthcare, more money is being spent on the military than on these key sectors. It hasn’t managed to attract the support of the ethnic minorities, who see it as an ethnic Burmese party with the usual centralizing instincts.
If tomorrow’s vote goes in her favour, then the people of Myanmar will look to Aung San Suu Kyi for personal leadership.
“It’s great”, she said as she voted, “I’m feeling great”. Defending her deafening silence, she said it was the wrong way to achieve reconciliation.
Advertisement
“The NLD is the only party that can make our hopes come true”, Tun Tun Naing, 39, told AFP, explaining his loyalty to the party pivots on its leader’s star power. However, the vast majority of people in the country still see her to be a more trustworthy leader than her contemporaries.
