Aung Sang Suu Kyi's Party Registers for Myanmar Elections

[Sky Dancer]

Myanmar's main opposition party led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi decided Friday to rejoin politics and register for future elections, signaling its confidence in recent reforms by the military-aligned government.
The National League for Democracy party "has unanimously decided to reregister as a political party ... and will run in the elections," it said in a statement issued at the end of a meeting of senior members from across the country.

Some joyous members broke into a dance as the announcement was made.

"What we are doing now involves a lot of risk but it is time to take the risk because in politics there is no 100 percent assurance of success," Suu Kyi told them.
Suu Kyi's party to register for Myanmar elections - Taiwan News Online

This is a very exciting development!

 

[Sunshine]

Maybe she won't end up in prison again.

 

[waltky]

Free at last, free at last; thank Buddha almighty we're free at last...

In surprise amnesty, Myanmar releases high-profile political prisoners
January 13, 2012 - Myanmar freed hundreds of political prisoners Friday in an amnesty that could pressure the West to lift sanctions as one of the world's most reclusive states opens up.

Myanmar's government today freed hundreds of political prisoners in a landmark release that could see Western sanctions on the former military dictatorship relaxed. The surprise amnesty, the second significant prisoner release since the current military-backed government was formed and new reforms implemented, comes amid growing rivalry between the US and China in Asia. Myanmar (Burma) has long been an economically and politically tied to China, but some see its rulers as chafing under Beijing's influence, while the US is trying to recover lost ground in the region.

Singaporean academic Simon Tay says that Myanmar's reforms, though promising, could be more about forming better relations with the West, which has long called on Myanmar's rulers to bring about change, than about real democratic progress. The timing and magnitude of today's mass release came as a surprise to many analysts, including Aung Naing Oo, a former student protester from Myanmar who is now deputy director of the Vahu Development Institute in Thailand. “The military moves slowly, cautiously,” he says explaining why the release came after some recent smaller amnesties that many found disappointing.

Among those freed today were student leaders of a 1988 uprising against military rule, monks who fronted the 2007 Saffron protests, journalists, and bloggers, as well as a former military junta Prime Minister Khin Nyunt and some former intelligence officials and military insiders who were jailed in a 2004 purge orchestrated by then-dictator Than Shwe. The head of the EU delegation to Myanmar and Thailand, David Lipman, said today in Bangkok that the developments in Myanmar during the past 24 hours were “quite remarkable,” adding that EU governments would discuss Myanamar at an upcoming meeting in Brussels.

Freed prisoners speak

One of those freed today was Ko Ko Gyi, a former student leader who spent a total of 17 years in jail over three jail-terms. Speaking to the Monitor via a crackly telephone line from Yangon, said that “we are grateful for your support and efforts,” referring to countries and organizations that lobbied for the release.

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[waltky]

Good ol' Mitch got `em onna right track...

Myanmar president commits to reform
Sat, Jan 21, 2012 - POINT OF NO RETURN: Thein Sein urged the West to lift sanctions against Myanmar, while the US and the EU said they would observe how the April elections turn out

Myanmar President Thein Sein vowed not to turn back on his country’s democratic reforms as he urged the West to lift sanctions, and even dangled the possibility of giving opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi a Cabinet post. “We are on the right track to democracy,” he said in an interview with the Washington Post published yesterday, his first with Western media. “Because we are on the right track, we can only move forward, and we don’t have any intention to draw back.” Thein Sein’s government took office in March last year, ending half a century of military rule. Since then, it has rolled out reforms at a pace that has surprised even Myanmar’s staunchest critics.

Thein Sein said he felt his government had met the West’s conditions for lifting sanctions by releasing many political prisoners, scheduling parliamentary elections for April 1 and allowing Aung San Suu Kyi among others to participate. “What is needed from the Western countries is for them to do their part,” he said. Thein Sein repeatedly called for the lifting of severe economic sanctions that the US, the EU and others imposed while Myanmar was under military rule. He said the sanctions hurt the people of Myanmar much more than the former junta leaders and were holding back the nation’s economic progress.

The US and the EU have praised the recent reforms, but said they will monitor how the April vote is conducted among other considerations. Aung San Suu Kyi has said she will personally contest the elections, a historic event that could usher the Nobel laureate and former political prisoner into her first parliamentary seat. “If the people vote for her, she will be elected and become a member of parliament. I am sure that the parliament will warmly welcome her. This is our plan,” Thein Sein said. Asked if he would like to see Aung San Suu Kyi in his government, Thein Sein replied: “If one has been appointed or agreed on by the parliament, we will have to accept that she becomes a Cabinet minister.” Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy could not immediately be reached for comment.

After a recent visit to Myanmar, US Senator Mitch McConnell urged Myanmar to allow international observers for the April elections to certify they are free and fair. He also sought more moves to end ethnic violence and for Myanmar to discontinue its relationship with North Korea, which is suspected to have sold it missiles in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions. Some in the US Congress maintain that there is ongoing nuclear cooperation between the two countries.

Thein Sein said the two nations have diplomatic ties, but denied any military ties with North Korea. “These are only allegations,” he said. “We don’t have any nuclear or weapons cooperation with [North Korea].” Thein Sein said the government was committed to ending the country’s long-running ethnic conflicts and was currently communicating with all armed ethnic groups. Ceasefire pacts have been signed with some, including the Karen. “Soon we will try to achieve an eternal peace in country. However, this will require time,” he said.

Myanmar president commits to reform - Taipei Times

 

[Mr. H.]

Is Aung Sang old?

Should her acquaintance be forgot?

 

[waltky]

Democratic change in Burma may lead to sanctions being lifted...

US Senators Signal Conditional Support for Lifting Burma Sanctions
January 21, 2012 - The United States is ready to lift economic sanctions against Burma if the country’s civilian government presses ahead on political reforms including free and fair elections this April.

The call was made by a visiting delegation of senior U.S. senators, led by Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman, who made a stop in Bangkok on their way to Burma. Before the United States makes a final decision, the senators said they who say they will also look to democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. Speaking to reporters Saturday, Senator McCain, while remaining cautious over the reform process, said a decision on sanctions lay with the international community and judgment on the reform progress in Burma. “There is no doubt in my mind, absolutely certain that if this is a free and fair election, there will be no problem coordinating with every other country in the world to bring the sanctions to a close," McCain said. "I have to say that I am still a bit skeptical, not a lot, a bit skeptical, but I will certainly try to keep an open mind as we go through this process.”

The delegation will hold talks with government leader Burmese President Thein Sein and pro-democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi. Burma is to hold by-elections for the national parliament in April in which Aung San Suu Kyi is registered to stand as a candidate. The U.S. imposed sanctions against Burma in 2003. They include bans on imports from Burma and a severing of financial services ties. In 2007, the bans were extended after the military suppressed street protests. These included the freezing of individual overseas assets and those providing “material support” to Burma’s government. New investment by U.S. individuals and entities was also banned. Some countries, such as Australia, as well as the European Union are now taking steps to ease sanctions after the release of hundreds of political prisoners. But other prisoners remain detained.

The U.S. government has recently upgraded diplomatic relations by restoring the post of ambassador following the prisoner release and a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Senator Joseph Lieberman said the U.S. would be looking to Aung San Suu Kyi for guidance over the timing of an easing of sanctions against Burma, also known as Myanmar. “Our reaction to what happens in Myanmar will be greatly affected by the reaction of Aung San Suu Kyi. In other words we have great admiration for her not only for her but trust in her so I wouldn’t say we were giving her total veto but to the extent that she has confidence in the process we will have confidence in the process of change in Myanmar and as a result we will lift sanctions and grow closer to the government.”

In an interview this week with The Washington Post newspaper, Burma’s President Thein Sein, called for the West to lift sanctions. The president said his government had met international calls for the release of political prisoners, holding of elections and granting greater political freedom to Aung San Suu Kyi. But Suu Kyi in a recent interview said the U.S. should lift sanctions when “the time is right” and if Burma’s government had met the conditions for their removal.

Spource

 

[waltky]

Human rights improving in Burma...

Human rights condition improving in Myanmar: UN envoy
Sunday 5th February, 2012 - The human rights situation was improving in Myanmar but serious challenges still remained and needed to be addressed, UN special envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana has said.

Quintana, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, told a press briefing at the Yangon international airport Sunday before wrapping his six-day visit that he was encouraged by the country's concrete progress in improving its human rights situation. He called on the international community to remain engaged and assist the Myanmar government during this important time, Xinhua reported.

Quintana cited a continuing wave of reforms in the country since his last visit in August 2011, and said the speed of the reforms has surprised many international observers. "The impact of these reforms on the country and on its people is immediately perceptible," he said. He said he was told that a new draft media law would abolish censorship and provides some guarantees for the freedom of opinion and expression. On the coming elections April 1, he said he was informed that international observers were under consideration to ensure credible polling.

Quintana will present his assessment report to the UN Human Rights Council in March. During his mission, Quintana met the speakers of the two houses of parliament and a number of ministers, the attorney-general, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, officials the Union Election Commission and presidential advisors. He also met Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD). It was Quintana's fifth visit to Myanmar since being appointed UN envoy in March 2008.

Human rights condition improving in Myanmar: UN envoy

 

[waltky]

Burma's recent democratic reforms helpin' to get sanctions lifted...

US Announces Limited Easing of Sanctions Against Burma
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 - The United States has eased one of its many sanctions against Burma in response to democratic reforms made by the country's military-backed government.

The State Department said late Monday it is lifting opposition to assessments of Burma by international financial institutions. The move will make it easier for the country to secure help from organizations such as the World Bank or the IMF. Washington said it is encouraged by Burma's recent democratic reforms, including its decision to allow opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to run in upcoming elections. Burma's Election Commission on Monday granted official approval to the Nobel Laureate's candidacy for the April parliamentary bi-election.

The State Department also praised Burma for releasing political prisoners, implementing broader civil liberties and holding peace talks with ethnic rebel groups. But U.S. officials insist that Burma must continue its reforms before other sanctions are lifted. The economic, political and trade sanctions have been in place for decades because of human rights abuses by the country's former military government, which stepped down last March. The April elections is seen as a key test of whether the country's new military-backed civilian government can continue its path toward democracy.

On Sunday, A United Nations human rights envoy said Burma is considering allowing foreign observers to monitor the April elections. Tomas Ojea Quintana lauded the recent reforms but warned of “a risk of backtracking on the progress achieved thus far.” He said the elections are a “key test” of the regimes commitment to reform. The by-election is being held to fill 48 parliamentary seats vacated by lawmakers who were appointed to the Cabinet and other posts. Even if the NLD sweeps the polls, it will have minimal power. The 440-seat lower house of Parliament is heavily weighted with military appointees and allies of the former military junta.

Source

 

[Ed Spacer]

Excellent.

 

[waltky]

Recent reforms towards democracy in Myanmar...

Myanmar's about-face: 5 recent reforms
Since 1962, Myanmar's dictatorship has jailed the opposition, beat up monks, denied aid to disaster victims, and run scorched-earth campaigns against ethnic minorities. That may be changing, however. Here are five key changes the regime has made in just a matter of months:

1. Holding free and fair elections

April 1, 2012, is the date Myanmar’s military-backed civilian government has set aside for parliamentary by-elections. Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi – forced to live under house arrest for years – is slated to run, along with other candidates from her National League for Democracy (NLD) Party.

If the vote is free and fair, as Myanmar’s president, Thein Sein, has promised, it could go a little way in helping to democratize the government. The United States says it will reduce sanctions after April 1, if the elections are fair. But the key test is what comes after that. In 1990, the NLD won elections only for the Army to keep Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for 15 years rather than let her govern. Aung San Suu Kyi remains hugely popular and there is little doubt she will be elected this year to parliament.

Though letting Aung San Suu Kyi take a seat would be a significant about-face for the government, only 40 seats of the 440 lower house seats are available, so the balance of power would not change. The Army holds a veto-wielding 25 percent of the seats, and almost 80 percent of the rest are held by the Army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party.

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See also:

Aung San Suu Kyi hits the campaign trail in Myanmar
February 7, 2012 - Crowds of supporters enthusiastically greeted Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, some up since dawn to catch a glimpse of her on her first official campaign trip.

Tens of thousands of Burmese came out today to greet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on her first campaign trip since becoming an official candidate for April's parliamentary elections. In another example of the loosening-up in the long-time military-ruled country, neither the iconic opposition leader nor the crowds in two towns in the south she visited appeared to meet any hindrance from authorities. It was her first time in the region in more than 20 years and comes on the heels of a spate of reforms by Myanmar's government, including the mass release of hundreds of political prisoners and the loosening of restrictions on the press.

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi told a raucous crowd estimated at more than 40,000 in Pathein, the regional capital of the rice-growing Irrawaddy region on the southern coast, that if elected to parliament – the same parliament she once boycotted after being prevented from running for office – she believed she could help “make changes in the constitution, to have the rule of law and to work for internal peace.” The assembled Burmese bellowed “Long Live Daw Aung San Suu Kyi!” Earlier Tuesday morning, during the four hour road trip from Yangon to Pathein, Aung San Suu Kyi's cortege was repeatedly mobbed by party supporters waving the party's peacock-emblazoned red flag. Women, their faces whitened by thanaka paste – a Burmese makeup made from ground-up bark – emerged from their brown and gray timber/bamboo huts nestled under dew-covered green palms by the roadside to wave and greet the opposition leader.

Throughout the day-long trip, as the sun rose high and hot to burn off the thick dawn mist shrouding the ricefields along the pock-marked roadway, the opposition leader repeatedly emerging through her 4x4 sunroof to shake hands with supporters and accept garlands of roses from them. For long-repressed Myanmar (Burma), it was a rare chance to see the country's best-known political icon. For Aung San Suu Kyi, it was an opportunity to test her much-vaunted popularity ahead of the upcoming elections. “We have not seen The Lady [a popular local nickname for Aung San Suu Kyi] here in more than 20 years,” says Kyaw Win, as he links arms with other local volunteers in Pathein to prevent the eager, surging crowd from swarming Aung San Suu Kyi's vehicle.

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Related:

Censors lighten their touch on Myanmar's media
February 7, 2012 - Myanmar's press has long been heavily restricted. But as the government promotes reforms, articles about just-released political prisoners and upcoming elections are getting into print.

Ko Ko Gyi unrolls a copy of the Messenger, one of 30 privately owned news magazines in Myanmar (Burma), and points – with an expression of disbelief – to a prominent picture of himself on the front page. “I never imagined a Burmese paper could have a cover story with a full-page photo of me,” he says, holding up the magazine during an interview at one of Yangon's many tea shops. Mr. Ko Ko Gyi was one of some 300 political prisoners released in a Jan. 13 amnesty by the government. The article goes into the details of what it was like for him to spend 18 years in jail after taking part in pro-democracy protests in Yangon in 1988. “It is not so long since such coverage would not have been possible here,” says U Myint Kyaw, editor of Yangon Press International, an online-only news start-up in the country's main city.

Since 1962, Myanmar’s dictatorship has jailed the opposition, beat up monks, denied aid to disaster victims, and run scorched-earth campaigns against ethnic minorities. For the past four years, it has been ranked among the world's five worst jailers of the press. But in an about-face, Myanmar’s military-backed civilian government is taking some major steps toward democratization, including promising free and fair elections, calling for peace in the restive ethnic areas, and releasing hundreds of political prisoners. Now, the leashed media is starting to see the beginning of some loosening. Despite the new freedoms – and a promise to replace the old law of "pre-censorship" with a new system under which publications will be "reviewed" after they hit the newsstands – the country's censors, known officially as the Press Scrutiny and Registration Department (PSRD), still require all publications to submit political news content to them for vetting prior to publication.

At the Myanmar Times, the sole foreign-backed publication, an editor who asked not to be named, as reforms in Myanmar are still at the early stages, displayed a draft of the latest weekly edition, returned by the PSRD with red ink circling sections that could not be published. A sentence that the PSRD ordered cut, which was from a Reuters wire story about Myanmar's new parliament, read, “derided as a well-choreographed sham in one of the world's most authoritarian countries when it opened a year ago.” To be sure, the editor says, “writing about corruption is difficult, as is writing anything criticizing the Constitution.” However, articles that would have been unthinkable a year ago, he explains, are making it past the censors, including pieces looking at the international reaction to reforms and detailed reporting on the views of Aung San Suu Kyi, the high-profile opposition leader who will run in an April 1 by-election for parliament.

The promise of a new media law

 

[waltky]

Burma listening to the voice of the people...

Myanmar lifts rally ban after Suu Kyi's party complains
Mon Feb 20, 2012 - Myanmar's election authorities Monday said a ministerial order restricting some campaign rallies had been lifted, just hours after Aung San Suu Kyi's party complained its campaigning for upcoming parliamentary by-elections was being stifled.

The Union Election Commission (UEC) contacted Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), which boycotted the 2010 election, to tell the party that a ban on the use of sports grounds, which prevented a February 14 rally from taking place, was no longer in effect. "The UEC has now allowed us to use the facilities earlier banned by sports ministry. We do welcome this news," Han Tha Myint, an NLD central executive committee member, told Reuters.

It was not immediately clear what took place leading to the announcement and whether the ministry had rescinded the order, or if the UEC had overturned it. The April 1 by-election vote for 48 vacant seats, mostly in the lower house, will be closely watched by the international community, with a fair contest demanded by Western countries currently reviewing their policies on sanctions in response to democratic reforms by the new civilian government.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi, 66, is standing as a candidate in what is seen as a partial endorsement of the fledgling democratic system now in place in Myanmar after decades of authoritarian military rule. For that reason, the government is keen to have Suu Kyi on board and the lifting of the ban, which was unthinkable under previous army governments, is another sign of openness by new civilian rulers.

RESTRICTIVE RULES

 

[Ropey]

Aung Sang Suu Kyis is so clearly one of those strong women who realize that it's a baton to be handed, not a bomb.

This is a smart lady and she's building some movement.

 

[waltky]

Upcoming elections keep Burma in suspense...

Waiting to Exhale in Myanmar
March 29, 2012, — The last time Burma held an election that was anything close to being fair, the military didn’t care for the results and tossed them aside, as if the whole thing had never happened. The generals went about their jackboot business, cozied up to China and kept the main opposition leader under arrest for most of the next two decades. It was North Korea Lite.

That election was held in 1990, when the country was still mostly known as Burma. The junta changed the name to Myanmar, the fabled port of Rangoon became Yangon and the capital was moved to a godforsaken patch of forest in the north, apparently on the advice of the regime’s astrologers. The jailed opposition leader, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has since been set free, of course, and she’s being allowed to run for a seat in Parliament. The election, set for Sunday, will decide 48 of the 664 parliamentary seats. Even if her National League for Democracy wins every available seat, they will still hold less than 10 percent of the legislature.

If Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi doesn’t win herself — that is, if there are Election Day shenanigans like phony ballots, security thugs threatening voters or an opaque vote-counting process — it would not be unthinkable that riots might erupt nationwide. It’s a devoutly Buddhist country, but karmic patience only goes so far. So, will the generals let her win, or won’t they? The whole country — indeed, the whole region — seems to be holding its breath, waiting to exhale. “The Lady,” as she is known, is running against Soe Min, 49, a retired army doctor from the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party. Apropos of karma, he is said to have been a member of the military unit that oversaw Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention.

They are running for the seat from Wah Thi Ka, part of the rural, rice-growing region that was crushed by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, a storm that killed 130,000 people, more than 40 times the number who died in the Sept. 11 attacks. For weeks after the cyclone, the ruling junta played hunger games with the farmers of the devastated delta, which has long been a center of resistance to the regime: Humanitarian aid was turned away, foreign relief workers were denied entry into the country and the military seemed more intent on blocking donations and arresting journalists than delivering food, water and tarpaulins. It was as perplexing as it was brutal.

Some colleagues and I were inside Myanmar in those first days and weeks after the storm, hiding from the police in the trunks of cars, sleeping in temples alongside helpful Buddhist monks, poling canoes through irrigation canals choked with dead bodies. It was a horrible time, and haunting. A week after the cyclone, a referendum was scheduled on a new Constitution that the generals had drawn up. The country was in shock — an estimated 1.5 million people had been rendered homeless — but the regime insisted that the referendum be held.

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EU praises Myanmar over political reforms
Thursday 29th March, 2012 - The European Union (EU) has praised the Myanmar government for "remarkable programme of political reform" in the country over the last year.

"The release of political prisoners, the continuing dialogue between the government and the opposition, including Aung San Suu Kyi, are all important positive developments, as is the ongoing effort to secure peace with armed ethnic groups and the commitment to economic reform," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement. She noted that the forthcoming by-elections in Myanmar April 1 are a key moment in national reconciliation and said the EU has decided to deploy a small team of experts to be present on election day, the EuAsiaNews reported Wednesday.

The EU expects these elections to take place according to internationally accepted standards, and that the authorities will take actions against serious violations, added Ashton. Myanmar authorities had released pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 2010 after she had been under detention for over a decade.

Her release comes after the Union Solidarity and Development Party supported by the military won the country's first election in 20 years the same year. Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi heads the National League for Democracy (NLD) party that will now contest the upcoming elections.

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=204478217

 

[waltky]

Aung Suu Kyi favored to win...

Social media to play big role in Myanmar vote
Sun, Apr 01, 2012 - STILL CENSORED: The print media are busy testing the limits of how far the regime will let them go in covering Suu Kyi’s activity amid today’s elections

Myanmar’s journalists will take to Twitter and Facebook in their battle to beat press restrictions and deliver breaking news of today’s by-elections that for many will be the biggest story of their careers. The vote — the first contested by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and likely to propel her into parliament — is set to pose a host of challenges for news editors from the country’s long-censored media. All private news publications are weekly, after the previous military rulers nationalized dailies half a century ago and “everybody wants to be a Monday paper this week,” said Thiha Saw, editor of Open News, one of a number of papers to have applied for permission to print a day after the by-elections.

Those newspapers not shifting their print runs will rely on their burgeoning social media pages to provide readers with up to date coverage. “Our paper will be [published] after the election, so we will post on Facebook and our Twitter account, so we will update all the news every hour after the polling stations open,” said Nyein Nyein Naing, executive editor of 7Day News, one of the country’s biggest weeklies with an estimated readership of 1.5 million. Until last year, prominent coverage of Aung San Suu Kyi — known in Myanmar as “The Lady” — was almost unheard of and people who spoke to reporters were taking a real risk.

Front page pictures of the Nobel prize-winning opposition leader are now commonplace, while coverage of some other previously taboo subjects is also allowed after a new regime loosened censorship as part of wide-ranging reforms that have taken observers by surprise. Weeklies are still subject to pre-publication scrutiny that is described by media rights organizations as among the world’s most draconian, but Nyein Nyein Naing said newspapers were increasingly deciding not to send sensitive stories to the censors. “We are just trying to push our boundaries a little bit. We do something one week and nothing happens, so we do more the next week,” she said, indicating the latest edition of the paper, which carried a front page story about the controversial decision by authorities to postpone voting in three constituencies in Kachin State due to ongoing ethnic unrest in the northern region.

She said when it comes to breaking news online, editors publish what they want. “For the Facebook and Twitter, we don’t think about censorship at all, we just put everything that we have got.” She said 7Day News had become increasingly reliant on Facebook to reach its readership. A story posted on the 7Day page of the social media Web site about electricity blackouts, an increasing problem during the summer months, had more than a hundred comments and 165 shares in just two hours — no mean feat in a country where only a fraction of the population has access to the Internet.

However, while censors might not stop papers covering the election in real time — the Internet itself could pose a challenge in a country beset by outages during sensitive periods. “We all are worried about the Internet connection. Not only me but other journalists who are running their stories through the Internet,” said Nyein Nyein Naing. She added that her reporter could not send pictures during a recent Aung San Suu Kyi trip to the far north because the connection was down. “I don’t think that would be coincidentally,” she said when asked if the authorities were behind the outage.

Social media to play big role in Myanmar vote - Taipei Times

See also:

Opposition claims Burma's Suu Kyi wins parliamentary seat
31 Mar.`12 – Supporters of Burma's opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi erupted in euphoric cheers Sunday after her party said she won a parliamentary seat in a landmark election, setting the stage for her to take public office for the first time.

The victory, if confirmed, would mark a major milestone in the Southeast Asian nation, also known as Myanmar, where the military has ruled almost exclusively for a half-century and where a new reform-minded government is seeking legitimacy and a lifting of Western sanctions. It would also mark the biggest prize of Suu Kyi's political career, and a spectacular reversal of fortune for the 66-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate who the former junta had kept imprisoned in her lakeside home for the better part of two decades.

The victory claim was displayed on a digital signboard above the opposition National League for Democracy's headquarters in Myanmar's main city, Yangon, where more than 1,000 supporters began wildly shouting upon learning the news. "We won! We won!" her supporters chanted while clapping, dancing, waving red party flags and gesturing with thumbs-up and V-for-victory signs.

Earlier, the party had claimed that Suu Kyi was ahead with 65% of the vote in 82 of her constituency's 129 polling stations. The party had staff and volunteers spread throughout the vast rice-farming district, who were calling in preliminary results by phone to their headquarters in Rangoon. The results must be confirmed by the official electoral commission, however, which has yet to release any outcome and may not make an official declaration for days.

The victory claim came despite allegations by her National League for Democracy party that "rampant irregularities" had taken place on voting day. Party spokesman Nyan Win said that by midday alone the party had filed more than 50 complaints to the Election Commission. He said most alleged violations concerned waxed ballot papers that made it difficult to mark votes. There were also ballot cards that lacked the Election Commission's seal, which would render them invalid.

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[waltky]

An example in co-operation Iran could follow...

U.S. to ease Myanmar sanctions, open relations
April 4th, 2012 - Responding to Myanmar's parliamentary elections, which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called a "dramatic demonstration of popular will," the Obama administration is taking several significant steps to normalize relations with the country.

In an announcement at the State Department Wednesday, Clinton said the administration is consulting with Congress, with European and Asian allies and others on the U.S. response. She said the United States is prepared to seek agreement from the government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, for an ambassador to the country and to establish an in-country mission by the United States Agency for International Development. In addition, the U.S. would seek to enable American-based private organizations to pursue activities including building democracy, improving health and education, and facilitating travel to the United States for select government officials and members of parliament.

The administration will also begin the process of easing some of the sanctions on financial services and investment to the country. However, sanctions and prohibitions, Clinton said, will stay in place on "individuals and institutions that remain on the wrong side of these reform efforts." Clinton said the United States will continue to monitor developments in Myanmar, seeking improvements in human rights, the unconditional release of all political prisoners and the lifting of conditions on all those who have been released.

Sunday's parliamentary elections in Myanmar included victory for long-imprisoned Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her political party. The National League for Democracy won at laest 40 of the 44 seats that it contested, according to partial results announced by the National Electoral Commission on state television.

Source

 

[waltky]

U.S. starts easing sanctions on Burma...

U.S. begins to ease pressure on Myanmar
April 17th, 2012 - The United States eased sanctions on Myanmar Tuesday to allow for certain financial transactions that support humanitarian, religious and other not-for-profit activities in the southeast Asian nation.

The order, which was announced in a letter by Adam J. Szubin, director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the Treasury Department, covers activities such as education, sports, religious and democracy-building activities in the country, which is also known as Burma. Support for projects that meet basic human needs such as disaster relief, clean water and sanitation are affected as well.

The announcement comes as the United States takes steps to normalize relations with Myanmar following recent parliamentary elections and the release of some of its political prisoners. Earlier this month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the elections a "dramatic demonstration of popular will." Clinton said the administration was working toward sending an American ambassador to Myanmar and establishing an in-country mission for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Obama administration has said it will take a measured and incremental approach to its easing of sanctions to send a signal of support to reformers in the country. Sanctions will remain in place on "individuals and institutions that remain on the wrong side of these reforms," Clinton said earlier this month. Long ruled by a reclusive military dictatorship, a gradual thaw in relations between Myanmar and the international community began following the recent elections. The long-imprisoned Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her political party won at least 40 of the 44 seats it contested.

Source

 

[waltky]

Myanmar starts down the road of democracy...

Myanmar Begins New Era as Full-fledged Democracy
February 01, 2016 - Myanmar began a new chapter in its history Monday as its democratically elected parliament convened its first session, formally ending over a half-century of iron-fisted military rule.

Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi led newly elected lawmakers from her National League for Democracy party into the parliamentary chambers in the capital, Naypyitaw, still basking in the glow of victory from last November's election. The NLD trounced the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party by winning 80 percent of the elected seats in both houses of parliament.

1990 elections

The session also brings to reality a moment delayed since 1990 when the military denied the NLD to take power after the party won the last democratically held elections in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma. The new parliament is scheduled to elect a new speaker and deputy speaker during Monday's opening session. Win Mynt, a close associate of Aung San Suu Kyi, is expected to be elected to the top post, while T Khun Myat, a member of the defeated Union Solidarity Party, will be named as deputy speaker. The lawmakers will also elect a new president to succeed Thein Sein, a former general who imposed a number of democratic reforms as leader of the quasi-civilian government that took power from the long-ruling military junta in 2011.

Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, center, arrives to participate in the inauguration session of Myanmar's lower house parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar​

Banned from presidency

Aung San Suu Kyi is constitutionally banned from serving in the post because her sons are British, as was her late husband. But she has vowed to rule through a figurehead president. The Nobel Peace laureate also said she will include in the new Cabinet at least one member of the military-linked USDP, as well as members from ethnic minorities who have complained of being sidelined from power.

The NLD will propose a member of the minority ethnic Karen for speaker of the upper house, and an Arakanese for his deputy. Despite its huge majority in the legislature, the ruling NLD will have to forge a working relationship with the military, which automatically controls 25 percent of all parliamentary seats under the 2008 constitution and maintains control of several key government posts, including defense, interior and border security.

Myanmar Begins New Era as Full-fledged Democracy

See also:

New era as Suu Kyi’s novice MPs brace for office
Mon, Feb 01, 2016 - In a modest dormitory in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, novice Burmese Member of Parliament (MP) Tin Thit recites a poem he has penned called No Retreat, steeling himself to enter Myanmar’s parliament carrying the dreams of a nation left traumatized by army rule.

A poet, editor, activist — and now newly elected MP — he is among hundreds of political newcomers poised to take their seats today in the nation’s most democratic legislature in generations, following the huge landslide win by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) in November last year. “This is our era,” the newly minted NLD lawmaker said on Saturday as he prepared for a last-ditch round of parliamentary training organized by his party, brushing off concerns about his and his colleagues’ lack of experience. “This is our responsibility. We will just do the job we have to do,” he said.

The new parliament marks a momentous political shift for a nation that was held in the choke hold of oppressive junta rule for decades. Many of the NLD MPs have served prison time in Myanmar’s long struggle for democratic change. They are a diverse bunch, counting singers, lawyers and businessmen among their ranks. However, few have any experience of the cut and thrust of Myanmar’s complex parliamentary process.

Burmese military lawmakers sign in to attend the final session of parliament as it ended its five-year term in Naypyidaw​

They must show the nation’s 51 million people that they can deliver the “change” that was virtually the sole message of Aung San Suu Kyi’s triumphant election bid. That is unlikely to be easy. While the junta handed power to a quasi-civilian reformist government in 2011, the Southeast Asian nation remains blighted by poverty and corruption. Junta-era neglect has left a legacy of ravaged education, healthcare, infrastructure and a creaking bureaucracy.

Ethnic minority divisions have also torn deep fractures across the nation and civil wars continue to ravage border areas, fought by a military that has ensured it is to retain huge political and economic powers under the new government. “Our region is another world,” said Cing Ngaih Mang, a newly elected MP for a small ethnic minority party from western Chin State, marveling at the grandeur of Myanmar’s junta-built capital. “The difference in development is like comparing earth and sky,” she said, adding that she had been watching parliamentary TV to brush up on protocol.

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[Dhara]

This is a joyous occasion. Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won about 80 percent of the contested seats in parliament during the November elections. The military controls a quarter of the 664 seats.

 

[waltky]

First Myanmar, then Cambodia...

Myanmar's parliament opens after decades of military rule
Feb. 1, 2016 --With the party of Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi in power, a transition from military rule is expected to be fast.

Myanmar's first democratically elected parliament in 50 years convened Monday in the capital, Naypyidaw.

The National League for Democracy, the party of Nobel Prize winner and former political prisoner Aung Sang Suu Kyi, holds over half the lower legislature's 664 seats after November's elections; it is expected legislation will easily be passed to ease the country's transition from military rule. At issue is who will serve as president; Suu Kyi is constitutionally prevented from the position, an amendment directed specifically at her banning anyone whose children are foreign nationals – hers are British – although she has said although a president will be chosen and installed, she will nonetheless run Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, from "above the president."

The National League of Democracy, the political party of Myanmar activist Aung San Suu Kyi, controls the majority of seats in the country's parliament, which opened this week ik in Naypyidaw, Myanmar​

Candidates have not yet come forward; the upper house of parliament convenes Wednesday, and outgoing president Thein Sein and his cabinet will remain in place until the end of March.

The NLD has already chosen parliamentary speakers and their deputies, and members of ethnic minorities were chosen in three of four cases. Ethnic minorities comprise over one-third of Myanmar's population and have had a tense relationship with the previous military government, to the point conflicts lasting decades are still played out in norther Myanmar, near its border with China. Suu Kyi has said national unity and internal peace are her party's priority.

Myanmar's parliament opens after decades of military rule

Myanmar Elections Seen as Model for Cambodia
February 01, 2016 — As Cambodia ramps up for local elections in 2017 and national elections the year after, experts say it should look to November's election in Myanmar — also known as Burma — to improve security and build confidence in voters.

During the elections in Myanmar, which came after decades of military rule, polling station observers and peacekeepers were deployed to ensure free and fair voting procedures. Among them were Cambodians who will be monitoring their own country's upcoming polls. "During election day, we learned that it's the people who take care of security affairs," said Koul Panha, head of the election monitoring group Comfrel, which observed the vote in Myanmar. "They taught people how to maintain security at the polling stations."

Young men are seen taking photos of a ballot box at a polling station in Phnom Penh, Cambodia​

Sam Kuntheamy, head of the election monitoring group Nicfec, said good security management meant fewer violations. "We should follow this good point of theirs," he said. "They did it differently and better than us. We used a lot of armed forces, which shows that there is a lot of insecurity. Firstly, it didn't feel like a free election. It seemed like the freedom in the elections was still in a fragile state." Security in the Myanmar election was conducted with input from political parties, something that is unlikely to happen in Cambodia, he said. "The related parties, such as the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense, are afraid that the government cannot accept such measures," he said. "So they follow the old model." Officials at the Ministry of Interior could not be reached for comment.

Roles for women

Hang Puthea, the former head of Nicfec who now serves as a member of the National Election Committee (NEC), said the NEC will raise security issues with the Ministry of Interior as it prepares voter registration. Koul Panha urged the NEC to work harder to be more transparent and to find more roles for women in the election process and vote counting. "The vote count is important after elections," he said. "Women play a good role in the management of the vote-counting process. Engaging more women in that role will enhance the confidence in the official vote when it comes to vote counting during the election days."

Cambodian officials are working to improve elections that follow polls in 2013, where allegations of widespread irregularities moved the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party to boycott participation in government for nearly a year.

Myanmar Elections Seen as Model for Cambodia

 

[waltky]

Will Aung San Suu Kyi be Myanmar's next president?...

In Myanmar, Rumors Swirl of Possible Aung San Suu Kyi Presidency
February 08, 2016 — There is growing speculation in Myanmar that long time opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi could become the country’s next president, following an announcement that nominations for the office won’t be revealed until the middle of next month (March 17).

Aung San Suu Kyi’s party — the National League for Democracy (NLD) — won an overwhelming victory in last year's general election, but she is constitutionally barred from the presidency under Article 59 (f), which prohibits anyone with children holding foreign citizenship from the nation’s top position. The president and vice presidents will be elected by the Union parliament before the next government begins their term on the April 1. The lower house, upper house and military each select a candidate for the three positions, who then compete to become president.

Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, center, walks along with lawmakers of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party to attend the inauguration session of Union Parliament​

The nominations were expected this month and political observers suspect that the announcement has been delayed in order to create space for continuing negotiations between Aung San Su Kyi and the military. She has held several meetings with Army Chief General Min Aung Hlaing about the structure of the next government, according to reports, including a possible deal to put her in the president’s seat. Late Sunday, simultaneous reports by pro-government news broadcasters said “positive results could come out of the negotiation for the suspension of the constitution Article 59 [f]”fueling suspicions further.

Speculation

But neither the NLD nor military have released official statements about the negotiations. Most members of parliament contacted by VOA have said they have been told not to talk about the matter. Khin Zaw Win, a political analyst at the Tampadipa Institute, has accused the NLD of ‘feeding the rumor mill’ by placing a gag order on its MPs. He also described the new parliament as ‘a scene from a traffic accident’, with large cordons separating the new lawmakers from members of the public and media. A senior NLD insider, who asked not to be named, has told VOA not to expect Aung San Suu Kyi’s name on the ballot sheet next month. “There have been developments, but it will take time. Even if the military does agree, there is a legal process that we have to follow so when it comes to next month’s announcement, you will not see her be named as president,” the source said.

Myanmar lawmakers gather after a regular session of the lower house of parliament​

Tom Lambert from Andaman Research and Advisory, agrees that the reports and rumors swirling around Myanmar deserve caution. “Nothing the military has said, done, or implied suggests that they have shifted their position that having Aung San Suu Kyi as president is a red-line they are willing to cross. Until we know the content of Min Aung Hlaing and Aung San Suu Kyi’s discussions, all rumors are suspect and should be treated extremely carefully.”

Concessions