Burma/Myanmar: Elections Begin Amidst Tight Security and Much Skepticism (Al Jazeera)
Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 9:03
Polls have opened under tight security in Myanmar's first election in 20 years, but few expect it to bring any real change in power, with the military and its proxies likely to dominate parliament and senior positions.
In the commercial hub of Yangon on Sunday, armed riot police stood guard at near-empty polling booths or patrolled streets in convoys of military trucks, part of a clampdown that includes bans on foreign media and on outside election monitors.
The carefully choreographed end of direct army rule, marred by complex rules that stifled major pro-democracy forces, enters its final stage in a race largely between two powerful military-backed parties running virtually unopposed.
Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi remains locked up and two pro-military parties are together fielding about two-thirds of the total candidates, leaving the splintered opposition with little chance of success.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner swept her party to power in 1990 but the result was never recognised by the ruling generals. She has been detained for most of the past 20 years and is supporting a boycott of Sunday's election.
The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is the military's political party, fielding 27 incumbent ministers, top-heavy with recently retired generals.
The USDP dominated the campaign, contesting all 1,158 seats up for grabs. Its only real rival is the National Unity Party (NUP), another vehicle for the military, running in 980 seats.
At least six parties have lodged complaints with the election commission, claiming hundreds of state workers were forced to vote for the pro-military USDP in advance balloting.
On Saturday, the All Mon Region Democracy Party and the Rakhine National Development Party (RNDP) accused the military-backed USDP of "cheating" and "threatening" voters.
They said they plan to contest the election results if their complaints aren't investigated.
"There has been widespread fraud and malpractice committed by the USDP in advance voting across the country," Khin Maung Swe, a spokesman for the pro-democracy National Democratic Force, the largest opposition party, told Al Jazeera.
"We democratic parties will have to take appropriate action after the elections," he added.
Twenty-five per cent of seats in all chambers are reserved for serving generals. That means an army-backed party needs to win only 26 per cent of the remaining seats for the junta's allies to control the country's national legislature.
But Khin Maung Swe underlined the importance of participating in the elections.
"If one or two persons can get into the parliament, then we make a voice for the people," he said.
"We know that after so many years of resistance, it does not work and we need to work from the inside. This can only be achieved inside the parliament and not on the streets."
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