The Union Election Commission (UEC) is wrong to place areas of peace and stability, in Shan State, in the lists of excluded constituencies without any strong reasons, declared Sai Kyaw Nyunt, Secretary-1 of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD)

“The right to vote is the right of all citizens. It is a fundamental right. Now the local people lose their citizen rights,” he said.

In the 2015 General Election, the SNLD secured three seats in Mong Kung Township which is one of the areas barred from voting in 2020.

“Our party will lose three candidates due to exclusions. It is a great loss to the public if there are no candidates who will represent them,” he continued. It will also reduce the widespread hopes of ethnic peoples that their vote could contribute to the need for NLD to form a post-election coalition government with ethnic parties.

The SNLD will continue to coordinate with the township election sub-commission in cooperation with other parties in Mong Kung Township, he said.

The six skipped townships in Shan State are: Mongla, Panhsan, Narphan, Mongmaw, Pangwai and Mongkai Townships. The UEC skipped eight wards and 133 village-tracts in 17 townships (Kyaukme, Naungcho, Namhsam, Manton, Mongkhat, Mongyan, Mongphyat, Mongyaung, Kyutkai, Muse, Matman, Mongton, Tantyan, Lashio, Kwanlon, Gonegyan and Hopan) of the northern Shan State.

Shan groups feel that an unfair election will further damage any hope for the peace process and further alienate their peoples from the national government.