Here in the commercial capital, there seems to be only one visible party-the NLD.
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An NLD campaign truck in rural Yangon.
The rock music belts into the humid Yangon night and there’s a cheer from the party faithful, most with red stickers of the opposition flag plastered on their cheeks. But he implied further changes could be ahead after the elections although would not elaborate. This gives the military significant veto power over any proposed amendments to the constitution which could hinder democratic reform in the country. So in September, troops surrounded the USDP’s headquarters – and when they left, Shwe Mann was no longer the party’s leader.
Election laws were eased, and in 2012 the NLD agreed to contest a series of by-elections, winning most of the seats at stake.
Suu Kyi has also come under fire from rights groups for failing to use her moral force to denounce Wirathu or to speak up in defence of Muslims. Ms Suu Kyi’s late husband and two children are British. Her party later filed an official complaint with the government’s Union Election Commission.
Like many in the country the 36-year-old is a first time voter.
Suu Kyi is less lucky than Megawati, whose party won the 1999 elections, riding on widespread anger and frustration as Indonesia was on the brink of economic collapse. Now as many as 92 political parties are in the fray.
But it may only be the sheer number of political parties splitting the vote that saves the USDP from a humiliating rout at the polls.
When Aung San Suu Kyi was asked to take part in demonstrations against Myanmar’s brutal treatment of activists during a 1988 student uprising, she replied: “It’s not my sort of thing”.
“The State Department has had different definitions for what would be a successful election … the standard was ‘free and fair.’ For the November elections, we are calling for elections to be ‘transparent, inclusive and credible, ‘” he said, adding, “I don’t know whether this is a raising of the bar or a lowering of the bar”. She has unequivocally expressed her desire to lead the government despite knowing she is constitutionally barred from becoming the country’s president.
Being personality-centric is perhaps kosher when the figure already stands for a strong idea-besides being the best guarantor of victory.
The United States hinted late Wednesday that more sanctions could be eased if Sunday’s poll is judged to be free and fair – specifically those barring U.S. trade with Myanmar business elites with close links to the army.
The opposition National League for Democracy party led by Suu Kyi has a hard path to victory.
Wirathu and the Massachusetts Ba Tha Buddhist nationalist movement have thrown their support behind the incumbent Union and Solidarity Development Party (USDP) as a reward for drafting the contentious religious bills. Very few people attend their rallies, according to political analysts and civil society organisations closely watching the election campaign. The USDP is totally under the influence of the military and they will control the election of the parliament and the president afterwards, he warns.
About 11,000 local and global monitors will oversee 40,000 polling stations. The elections have been marred by claims that the NLD knowingly sidestepped Muslim election candidates, while thousands of Muslims – most of whom are Rohingya Muslims from Rakhine state – have been denied to right to vote. At the same time, she said, they may be overly optimistic that they are on the cusp of real democracy. “What they say is like an order”, says Yan Myo Thein, a political commentator and former political prisoner. Those restrictions remain a drag on USA investment in a country rich in oil, gas and minerals, and with a largely unexploited market of 55 million people. Rather, it places the military as co-equal with the civilian government.
Suu Kyi was responding to a question about how the NLD will deal with the military, called the Tatmadaw, if the party assumes power.
Suu Kyi’s remarks have been widely interpreted as a direct challenge to the country’s 2008 constitution -drafted under the previous junta.
“She needs the nationalities to be able to do anything in parliament”, Khun Htun Oo, leader of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), said in an interview with Outlook this week. “We still live in fear of the military”.
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As a native of Myanmar and a researcher on the country’s politics for many years, I see tomorrow’s election as an indicator of democracy in the making. The election is particularly important for India, not just because Myanmar is its immediate neighbour but also because it borders a very sensitive, militancy prone region.
