Chin assembly opposes junta’s elections

by Salai Pi Pi

Monday, 23 November 2009 21:44

New Delhi (Mizzima) - While opposing the Burmese junta’s planned 2010 elections, the Chin National Council in exile on Monday said it will urge voters to selectively vote for pro-democracy candidates, should the regime continue with the polls despite widespread opposition.

The Council, comprised of Chin political parties, armed group, students, youths, civil societies, women’s group, and intellectuals, said the elections, which will be based on the 2008 constitution, does not reflect the peoples’ desire. It will not bring any kind of change and will only legitimize military rule.

But if “the regime continues with its planned election, we urge the people of Burma to selectively choose whom they should vote for and avoid casting votes for the pro-junta groups,” Ral Hnin, General Secretary of the CNC, told Mizzima on Monday.

Ral Hnin said the Council’s stance was discussed during the second Chin National Assembly held at a location along the India-Burma border from November 18 to 20.

He added that the Assembly, attended by Chin leaders from across the world including United States, Canada and Sweden along with civil society groups, students and youths, and women’s group, supports the stand taken by the National League for Democracy (NLD), Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, on the junta’s elections and its roadmap as a whole.

The Council, in its Assembly resolution said, the junta would be held accountable for the consequences if it continues with its planned elections without taking into consideration the NLD’s ‘Shwegondine Declaration’ in April.

The NLD, in its Shwegondine Declaration said, it is willing to participate in the elections in 2010 if the junta releases political prisoners including party leader Aung San Suu Kyi, amends the flawed 2008 constitution, and allows a free and fair electoral process that can be monitored.

The Council also said it supports the stand of ethnic ceasefire groups, which rejected the junta’s proposal to transform their armies into a Border Guard Force, to be controlled by the Burmese Army.

Ceasefire armed groups such as the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and United Wa State Army (UWSA) have rejected the junta’s proposal.

“Our commitment is to achieve self-determination, not to be transformed into border guard forces,” said Ral Hnin, “That’s why we support their response to the regime.”

During the Assembly, Ral Hnin said, the Council also expanded its core members from the previous four groups to accommodate students, youths, civil societies, and women.

The Council was formed in 2006, during the first Chin National Assembly held in ‘Mount Sinai’ in India’s North-eastern state of Manipur. The CNC’s core groups include the Chin National Front (CNF), Chin National League for Democracy (CNLD), Mara Peoples Party (MPP) and Zomi National Congress (ZNC).

While the CNF is an armed group formed with students and youths following the junta’s brutal crackdown on student-led nationwide protests in 1988, the CNLD, ZNC, and MPP are political parties, which won Parliamentary seats in Burma’s last elections in 1990.

The Chin National Council is also a member of the Ethnic Nationalities Council, an ethnic umbrella group representing the seven states of Burma - Arakan, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Shan and Mon.


Editing by Mungpi