First Elections in Burma in 20 Years

[Gaybutton]

Anyone wondering what the outcome will be? I can't help but think of Saddam Hussein's last election - the one in which he received 100% of the votes . . .
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Myanmar Holds First Election in 20 years Amid Criticism

By the CNN Wire Staff
November 7, 2010

(CNN) -- Security was tight in Myanmar on Sunday as voters participated in the country's first election in 20 years -- a contest critics say is aimed at creating a facade of democracy.

Riot police roamed streets in the city of Yangon, the former national capital that is also known as Rangoon.

Election workers for the Union for Solidarity and Development (USD) had campaigned in the countryside, where many rural residents didn't know how to vote. The party is supported by the governing junta of mostly of ex-military members.

"These are our candidates for this region," a USD election worker told one resident. "It is not important to put down the name of the party, but the people have to know our symbol and make their mark right here."

Because many citizens in rural areas know so little about the political process, election workers said they also had to show people how to vote.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiap ... google_cnn

[ajarn2]

America is quick to involve itself in Middle Eastern affairs but doesn't care about Burma's people.

[lvdkeyes]

When America gets involved with other countries it's called meddling. When they don't it's called not caring.

[Bob]

America is quick to involve itself in Middle Eastern affairs but doesn't care about Burma's people.

While there would be a long list of things we yanks shouldn't have done, your comment about Burma is incorrect. Unlike many other countries, the US has screamed the loudest about the oppression going on in Burma.

But for China, things might be vastly different in Burma (and, for that matter, in North Korea too). It's no coincidence that these two states are on China's border and that China, having the real view to avoid anybody criticizing the dictatorship and lack of civil rights in China itself, has supported Burma and North Korea and effectively blocked any international action against those two rogue regimes.

[Gaybutton]

Western States Dismiss Burma's Election

Burma has banned international journalists from reporting from inside Burma

Western powers have dismissed Burma's first general election for two decades, describing it as neither free nor fair.

During a visit to India, US President Barack Obama said "for too long the people of Burma have been denied the right to determine their own destiny".

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said Sunday's election would "mean the return to power of a brutal regime".

Two parties linked to the military are expected to dominate the poll. The largest opposition group boycotted it.

Some voters told the BBC they could not vote in private, while opposition groups alleged that many state employees had been pressured to vote in advance for the main pro-military party.

Reports from Burma's largest city, Rangoon, suggest turnout was low.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11707294
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Fear and Loathing at the Polls

Light turnout from Burmese voters

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."

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/20 ... -the-polls
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Counting Begins in Controversial Myanmar Election

By the CNN Wire Staff

(CNN) -- Counting was under way Sunday in Myanmar's first election in 20 years, a poll that critics say is aimed at creating a facade of democracy.

Polls closed Sunday and officials results were not immediately available, though critics say that the outcome was all but certain to be favorable to the ruling military junta. .

Riot police roamed streets in the city of Yangon, the former national capital that is also known as Rangoon.

Election workers for the Union for Solidarity and Development (USD) had campaigned in the countryside, where many rural residents didn't know how to vote. The party is supported by the governing junta of mostly of ex-military members.

"These are our candidates for this region," a USD election worker told one resident. "It is not important to put down the name of the party, but the people have to know our symbol and make their mark right here."

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiap ... tml?hpt=T2
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Drama at Border Amid Burma's 'Sham' Poll

By SUPALAK GANJANAKHUNDEE,
JIM POLLARD
THE NATION, AGENCIES
Published on November 8, 2010
November 7, 2010

Faction of rebel DKBA takes key govt buildings in Myawaddy opposite Mae Sot

Millions of Burmese voted yesterday in their first election in 20 years amid reports of fraud and intimidation. There was also strong criticism that the poll was a sham - neither free nor fair, and designed to entrench military rule in the country.

"It is just a political game to maintain the status quo existing in the country since 1962 when late dictator Ne Win used military power to run the country," leading Thai historian Charnvit Kasetsiri said.

The rare ballot in military-ruled Burma appeared to create relatively little excitement for the people. Shops were closed, Internet cafes shut and streets eerily quiet in the main city of Rangoon on polling day.

The main drama occurred in the border town of Myawaddy, just across from Mae Sot in Tak province.

Hundreds of rebel troops occupied several key government buildings as an act of protest against an election denounced as "not free and fair" by one Karen military leader.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/20 ... 41743.html

* Published: 8/11/2010

[Khortose]

America is quick to involve itself in Middle Eastern affairs but doesn't care about Burma's people.

But for China, things might be vastly different in Burma (and, for that matter, in North Korea too). It's no coincidence that these two states are on China's border and that China, having the real view to avoid anybody criticizing the dictatorship and lack of civil rights in China itself, has supported Burma and North Korea and effectively blocked any international action against those two rogue regimes.

Right on Bob. Furthermore it is China who has supplied all of Burma's military needs. In return China is actively involved in raping all of Burma's natural resources including her natural gas, oil, minerals and even her gem mining. Without China's support there would be no military dictatorship. China is basically stealing the future of the Burmese people for her own benefit, by propping up the world's most corrupt dictatorship that allows her to do so.

[Gaybutton]

Without China's support there would be no military dictatorship.

Of course. If it wasn't forced on them I can't imagine any of the people would want to vote to keep a regime in power that represses them to such an extreme. If it wasn't for that goddam Chinese government, there wouldn't be any junta in Burma and there wouldn't be any Kim Jong Il in North Korea either.

[Gaybutton]

'No Bargain', Says Suu Kyi

US president dismisses Burma poll as "stolen"

Published: 11/11/2010

RANGOON: Burma's icon of democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, will not accept conditions on her freedom if the military government releases her this week when her latest period of detention is due to end, her lawyer says.

The charismatic and influential figurehead of Burma's fight for democracy might be a potent threat to the ruling military but it stands to gain diplomatic points by freeing her.

Ms Suu Kyi voiced opposition to Burma's first election in 20 years, held on Sunday and easily won, as expected, by a party set up by the military. She has called on her loyalists to expose electoral fraud, her lawyer, Nyan Win, said.

Analysis: If freed, Suu Kyi will need to reconsolidate NLD

US President Barack Obama dismissed the election as "stolen" while China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs lauded it as "peaceful and successful", and "illustrating strengthening ties" between energy-hungry China and its resource-rich neighbour. Burma's other neighbours and partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations had urged it to make the election "fair and inclusive" and to release Ms Suu Kyi and more than 2,000 other political prisoners before the vote.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/20 ... ys-suu-kyi

[Bob]

China's statement about how they viewed these Burmese elections is sadly laughable (although just about what you would expect them to say).

China, to me, has always been the key to solving the Burma and North Korea problem as China is the only nation that could exert enough pressure to make them stop what they're doing. But they won't because, by doing so, China opens itself to an implicit admission that it's alright to criticize what another country is doing internally.

What's puzzled me for years is why almost every nation is aware that China is extremely sensitive to criticism and, yet, almost every nation is afraid to criticize China (which, given how sensitive they are about such topics, one would think that a block of nations would use precisely that method to push for change in China). Politically, there's not much difference between China, North Korea, and Burma (and Thailand's true power holding isn't that far off that same mark either). Regardless of China getting pissed about it, somebody needs to stand up and speak for the oppressed people of Burma. It's sad to me that too many countries, including Thailand, have neither the balls or moral authority to do it.