Locals criticize the cancellation of Seikphu village-tract in Shan State from election

Locals criticize the cancellation of Seikphu village-tract in Shan State from election

Anger over controversial decisions to exclude many ethnic areas from the November 8h election continues to reverberate in the hills of Shan State.

San Hla Maung, Seikphu village administrator is astonished that his village-tract is located in Naungcho Township in the northern Shan State has been barred from voting.

"We have a desire to cast our ballots. The lack of election amounts to pushing us towards the armed struggle. The situation may become worse. So far there is no armed conflict here. The village-tract does not even have a COVID confirmed patient.”

There is a wide criticism among the locals about the cancellation of Seikphu village-tract in Naungcho Township in Shan State for the election as the village-tract has no armed conflict and virus transmission.

U Aung Kyaw Moe, a candidate from the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) in Naungcho Township said: “Our party carried out the election campaigns there. There were no problems. I don’t understand why the UEC canceled the election in the village-tract in Naungcho Township. The UEC’s view is totally at odds with the ground data. This is the loss of citizen rights.”

Seikphu village-tract has seven villages. It is located about 15 miles from Naungcho Township. The village-tract is popular for its natural hot springs. Locals said the UEC needs to review the exclusion of Seikphu village-tract from the list.

According to a statement by the UEC on October 16th, the UEC canceled the elections in six townships, and eight wards and 133 village-tracts in 17 townships in Shan State.

Another complaint about the UECs bizarre logic in disenfranchising more than 1.3 million voters in seven ethnic states, includes the Mong Kung township also in Shan State.

According to Sai Kyaw Nyunt, Joint Secretary of SNLD: “Mong Kung, where elections are canceled, has better security than even Naypyidaw, where a grenade was found recently. Elections are canceled because the NLD is bound to lose and the SNLD is sure to win there”.

At a press conference on October 19th, U Soe Nyunt Lwin, Shan State Minister for Planning and Finance and the spokesperson of the Shan State government said: “The cancellation of election in some regions of Shan State has nothing to do with the Shan State government.

Khin Zaw Win, director of Tampadipa Institute, a policy organization based in Yangon commented, "Government catchwords of ‘ethnic unity’ and ‘equality’ have never sounded more hollow. There are many inconsistencies and questions over the selection of areas where polls are barred. But more than that, the co-option and corruption of institutions like the UEC, which are meant to be independent, incline towards a return to dictatorship."

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