Mizzima awarded global JTI certificate for reliable news on Myanmar

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Mizzima Mizzima, one of Myanmar ’s most prominent news outlets and a press freedom advocate, obtained the Journalism Trust Initiative ( JTI ) certification from global audit firm Bureau Veritas , JTI says in a press statement 5 January.  Operating in clandestine mode within Myanmar and supported by an exiled team, Mizzima strives to fulfil its role as reliable source of news and information for the Myanmar public. “Your Journalism Trust Initiative certification affirms what audiences already know: that principled, transparent journalism matters. Congratulations on this achievement and on your continued contribution to informing citizens about Myanmar,” says Benjamin Sabbah , director of Journalism Trust Initiative “Myanmar’s ongoing conflict has created an intensely contested media landscape, where mis- and disinformation are increasingly deployed to reinforce state propaganda and the prevailing “official” narrative. Although Mizzima is already regarded as one of the most trusted ...
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Myanmar pro-military USDP party dominates junta-run poll: official results

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AFP

Myanmar’s pro-military party has a decisive lead in the first phase of junta-run elections, with the USDP winning 90 percent of the lower house seats announced so far, official results published on the weekend in state media showed.

The military grabbed power in a 2021 putsch that triggered civil war, pitting pro-democracy rebels against junta forces for control of the country.

Myanmar’s junta opened voting in the phased month-long election a week ago, with its leaders pledging the poll would bring on democracy. However, rights advocates and Western diplomats have condemned it as a sham and a rebranding of martial rule.

The dominant pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has won 87 of the 96 lower house seats announced, according to partial results from the Union Election Commission (UEC) released on Saturday and Sunday in state media.

Six ethnic minority parties picked up nine seats.

The winners of six more townships have yet to be announced in the first phase of voting. Two more phases are scheduled for January 11 and 25.

The USDP — which many analysts describe as a civilian proxy of the military — claimed an overwhelming victory in the first phase last week.

The massively popular but dissolved National League for Democracy (NLD) of democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi did not appear on ballots, and she has been jailed since the coup.

The military overturned the results of the last poll in 2020 after the NLD defeated the USDP by a landslide.

The military and USDP then alleged massive voter fraud, claims that international monitors say were unfounded.

The USDP also won 14 of the 15 regional and state constituency seats announced in the first phase, according to UEC results published in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

The junta has said turnout in the first phase exceeded 50 percent of eligible voters, below the 2020 participation rate of around 70 percent, though anecdotal evidence suggests a lower turnout.

AFP

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