Fear and loathing at the polls [in Burma]

Migrant workers in Thailand boycotted, but inside Burma intimidation and indecision caused a light turnout, as voters realised that no matter who they picked, the military junta will win. (Reuters photo)

Light turnout from Burmese voters

8/11/2010
By Htet Myat U
Bangkok Post

RANGOON : Fear, indecision and confusion has marked the first parliamentary election in Burma in 20 years, amid light voter turnout and widespread allegations of fraud.

Nearly 30 million voters yesterday were eligible to take part in the military junta's carefully scripted polls for two houses of parliament and 14 regional and state legislatures.

But voter turnout appeared light in most urban areas of the country and there were no long lines like in 1990, when the last polls were held.

"I didn't vote. Whatever happens, they will win," a 23-year-old resident of Taungoo, several hours north of Rangoon, said of the military's proxy, the well-financed Union Solidarity and Development Party.

Others were indecisive and afraid of repercussions from local authorities.

"If I don't vote, maybe I'll be in trouble," said Khin Moe Sway, a 35-year-old housewife, in Magwe city in central Burma, shortly after the polls opened. "Even if I vote, I'll just cast a blank ballot."

She was still undecided two hours after the polls opened at 6am.

Many others said they had voted, but had deliberately spoiled their ballots.

In one neighbourhood in Mandalay, an election official reported a 55% turnout - 994 ballots cast out of 1,818 eligible voters.

That matched reports ranging from 40% to 60% in Lashio in northern Shan state.

Some were happy to take part in a rare democratic exercise. Burma has been ruled by the military since 1962.

"I must vote. If I do not vote, my ethnic people will lose," said 76-year-old U Shein, a farmer from a village in Mon state bordering Thailand, as he leaned on his grandson outside the polling station.

Ballot-counting began immediately at the local level after 4pm, when the nation's approximately 40,000 polling stations closed. Ballots were then to be counted at the township level last night or this morning. National results were not expected until later this week.

At stake are 1,148 legislative seats - 330 for the new lower house, 168 for the upper house and 650 for state and regional parliaments.

But many Burmese already suspect the outcome.

The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) fielded candidates for nearly all of the seats. In many cases, their only opposition was the National Union Party, the former party of the socialist regime up until the 1980s. The third largest party, the National Democratic Force (NDF), could only field 163 candidates.

The NDF split off from the National League for Democracy, the party that won a landslide victory in 1990. The NLD was officially dissolved when it decided not to contest these polls. Its leader, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has been under house arrest for 15 of the past 20 years. She is expected to be released after the election.

While there were only scattered reports of violence in the campaign period, intimidation was widespread.

"All of my villagers will vote for the USDP because they have signed a paper saying they will vote for them," said UWin Maung, a bean and sesame broker living near Magwe. "If they do not vote, they will get arrested."

Local officials pressured many people to vote ahead of the elections, and some schools and hospitals forced their employees to vote.

"The USDP said they'd give us a tractor if we vote," said a 60-year-old farmer from Lashio. "If not, they will take our house and land. Without land, how could we work?"

Confusion reigned in many polling stations and several election-related complaints have been filed.

"My name and my wife's name are not on the register," said Min Sein, 37, of Magwe. "When I talked to the local authority, he said, 'Let it be.' Although our names are not on the register, the guy on my street who already died is on the register."

In Pathein, in the Irrawaddy delta, a 19-year-old voter said he ticked his ballot on a table in front of others. He could also see how other people voted.

The first-time voter also said it was crowded and confusing, and people were shouting at each other. "Even staff at the polling station did not know the process very well," he said.