Featured Image: A young Muslim girl from Burma holds her identity card stating that her race is ‘Burmese Indian,’ Thomas Cristofoletti/The Guardian
On Wednesday, October 28, the US Campaign for Burma hosted its second event in the Burma’s 2020 Election Disenfranchisement series, this time covering election issues in Rakhine, Kachin, Shan, and Karen states. To read the follow-up from USCB’s first event, click here.
The USCB was honored to have four speakers contribute their knowledge and experience to this event. Ambassador Laetiticia van den Assum is a former Dutch ambassador, member of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine state, and a former UN staff member. Khon Ja is the co-founder of the Kachin Peace Network and United for Health Kachin State COVID-19 Response Team and serves as a Working Committee member for the Civil Society Forum for Peace. Nang Morn Kaein is currently serving as country director for Shan Women’s Action Network and a women rights advocate. Nan Paw Gay currently serves as the Director of the Karen Information Center, editor-in-chief of Karen News, a member of the Karen Women Organization, the Southern Myanmar Journalist Network, and the Burma News International’s Policy Affair Committee.
Ambassador Laetiticia van den Assum began the event speaking about the ongoing issues in Rakhine state. Nine townships in Rakhine state have already canceled voting due to conflict concerns, prompting speculations as to how the UEC is running elections as conflict does not justify cancellations. Local administrations have collapsed and are rendered unable to manage the upcoming elections- widespread security risks and continued clashes between the Arakan Army and Burma Army are likely to only be heightened with the cancellation of voting. Tense relations between the ethnic Rakhine and Burmese government authorities have been high since 2015- Ambassador Assum stated that “from late 2017 onwards… rather than authorities listening to grievances, they confronted them [ethnic Rakhine] and arrested and convicted two of their leaders on charges of treason. This is a very important point for the Rakhine when what happened signals to them that electoral parliamentary democracy since 2010 has not worked for them.” Given the general unrest in Rakhine state as well as the disenfranchisement of IDPs, refugees, and the Rohingya, the upcoming election season will likely pose great challenges.
Next, Khon Ja highlighted the issues Kachin state is facing with Burma’s national elections. With rising concerns of many ethnic villages being prevented from casting their ballots, this leaves the possibility for minimal to no ethnic Kachin representation if there are no Kachin voters. Campaigning for ethnic candidates is problematic as well- COVID-19 travel restrictions apply only to ethnic candidates, while the NLD is free to promote itself in various villages regardless of movement restrictions. Khon Ja noted that “there will be a quarantine for 14 days if they [ethnic candidates] travel from one village to another, meaning that they cannot organize an election campaign at all.” These limitations are also affecting IDPs- Khon Ja stated that “many of the IDPs are not in the camps since the beginning of the COVID pandemic… even if they might be registered as eligible voters in the camp, there is no way they can return to the camp just for voting because all of the routes are blocked because of the pandemic.” Also noted was the lack of transparency from the UEC and the many calls for the commission to be an independent body to truly ensure free and fair elections.
The third speaker, Nang Morn Kaein, provided insight into Shan state’s election problems. Armed conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic have greatly affected the ethnic Shan, of which more than 4,500 have fled their homes due to security concerns. Nang Morn Kaein stated that of the thousands who have fled their villages, “20% of the people are still away because they are afraid that the army is still present in their village.” In Kyaukme & Mong Kung townships, voting has been canceled in 12 villages- according to Nang Morn Kaein, “most of the Shan communities and political parties are still doubtful about the canceling of the election in Mon Kung township because there is no fighting and no reported cases of COVID. But, there is still doubt about why the UEC is canceling these places where more than 40,000 people won’t be able to vote.” The combined cancellation of 6 townships and numerous different village tracts leaves an estimated 100,000 people without the right to vote.
The event’s final speaker was Nan Paw Gay, who spoke to Karen state’s election issues. There are 199 candidates and 15 political parties in Karen state, however, many who are meant to be voting for these candidates are prevented from doing so. The Thai-Burma border holds an estimated 87,000 Karen state citizens, where they and the numerous IDPs in the state will be unable to vote. According to Nan Paw Gay, “in Karen state, the total population that can vote is 1.5 million, but in the voter lists, we can see only 1.1 million people who can vote in the election. Over 400,000 people are lost on the list.” In addition to mass voter disenfranchisement, the UEC has also canceled voting in numerous villages across Karen state. Nan Paw Gay stated that “we have seven townships in Karen state and the UEC canceled 53 village groups in six townships.” It was also noted that the UEC lacks transparency and halts the proper flow of information to candidates. Ethnic candidates are subject to COVID-19 movement restrictions while government and military-backed candidates can campaign freely. To this note, Nan Paw Gay highlighted that elections “can be free, but they cannot be fair.”
While the panelists took questions from the audience and spoke to the widespread voter distrust in Burma’s elections and therefore lack of willingness to vote, they also highlighted the need for the UEC to become an independent body to truly support fair elections and ethnic candidates. Ensuring accurate and timely voter lists would also be a step towards a legitimate democracy in Burma.
While all four states have clear election issues, there are certain barriers to democracy that are common for civilians, regardless of state or ethnic group. For instance, in both Karen and Rakhine states, the cancellation of voting due to unspecified or invalid reasons is a similarity that both speakers noted would likely increase already heightened tensions in the state. Calls for a more just UEC were also uniform amongst the four speakers’ respective states, where lack of transparency and skepticism of the UEC’s way of running elections were common concerns. Also notable were the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 restrictions on ethnic candidates, which have barred ethnic representation from campaigning to the same extent as government-backed groups.
The USCB is immensely grateful to the panelists for giving their time to spread awareness about the issues currently plaguing Burma and its elections. The USCB hopes that as audiences continue to learn about Burma, people around the world will take the steps necessary for human rights and democracy.
If you were unable to view the event live, there is a recording on the USCB’s Facebook page that can be found here. A live Tweet thread is also available to read via the USCB’s Twitter page, which can be found here. Also available is a full recording of the event, to be found here.
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