Parties call for electoral watchdog to delay polls

Thursday, 26 August 2010 23:05 Phanida

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Three political parties running out of time to meet membership quotas and submit candidate lists to qualify for Burmese elections in November have called on the electoral watchdog to postpone the polls until mid-December, party representatives said.

In a joint letter to the Union Election Commmission (UEC) yesterday, the 88 Generation Students and Youths (Union of Myanmar), Union of Myanmar Federation of National Politics and Myanmar Democracy Congress parties, said the 15 days by which parties had to submit candidate lists was insufficient and that the UEC should reset the polling date and the deadline for submitting candidates.

They said the UEC should do this in honour of conducting free and fair elections. The UEC deadline for candidate lists is August 31 and the parties want the deadline extended to 45 days.

“This deadline is not convenient as we are suffering under both time and financial constraints. We want the deadline extended to six weeks so we have about 60 days for preparations [ahead of the polls],” Aye Lwin, from 88 Generation Students and Youths, said.

He will stand for a seat in his hometown, Thegon, in the central Burmese division of Pegu, and his party plans to submit at least 75 candidates. His party will even field a candidate in Naypyidaw, the seat of the military regime, which most parties are avoiding.

A fourth party is joining the calls for more time. The National Political Alliances League called on the UEC to reset the deadline for submitting candidate lists to September 14.

There are 330 seats for the lower house, 168 seats for the upper house and 330 seats for the States and Divisions assembly in this general election. On top of that, 25 per cent are set aside for the military members, who do not have to campaign.