23 April 2021 To: Leaders of the Member States of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Your Excellencies, In alignment with the upcoming Special ASEAN Summit on Myanmar on 24 April 2021, we, the undersigned 744 individuals, 402 civil society organisations in Myanmar and 444 in other Southeast Asian nations
The protests continued for the 11th week despite the brutal crackdown by the junta forces. Ko Wai Moe Naing, a prominent leader of the pro-democracy protest movement in Monywa, Sagaing region, was beaten and dragged away after a vehicle hit his motorbike. 26 citizens were killed by the junta forces during the
Kabul: National Young Women Forum (NYWF) was established almost two years ago under the leadership of Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan, and since its very inception, the forum has worked to advocate women’s meaningful engagement in Afghanistan’s social and political processes. Now that the date for holding the Heart of Asia Summit
Many Asian countries, especially in South and Southeast Asia, saw democratic regressions in the pastyear. The governments took advantage of the global health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic tofurther tighten the restraints on civil liberties and crackdown on dissenters and political opponents. Asa democracy advocate, ANFREL will start publishing the monthly
The protests continued for the 10th week that protesters have used different methods to express their resistance towards the military coup such as “bleeding dye strike”, “marching shoes strike”, “flash strike” while the internet shutdown also continued at night time and all the wireless and broadband services were shut down since last
Transparency Maldives found in their observation of the Local Council and Women's Development Committee Elections on 10 April 2021 that the voting procedures were properly followed but COVID-19 risk mitigation strategies were not effectively enforced. TM trained and deployed 55 accredited observers who observed 34 polling stations in 29 islands across 19
First published on FAFEN's website on 11 April 2021. ISLAMABAD, April 11, 2021: NA-75 Sialkot-IV (Daska) by-election held on April 10, 2021 witnessed low incidences of electoral violations as procedures were generally transparent and election staff conducted the process with care and mostly in accordance with prescribed regulations. Political competition was heightened
Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) and ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) have made a joint submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Thailand that will take place in October 2021. The submission was done based on ANFREL's findings in its international election observation mission to the 2019 Thai general
Protests continued over the past week across the towns and cities in Myanmar despite the strong crackdown by the military and the police. The people of Myanmar protested using innovative ways, such as “garbage strikes”, “flower strikes” and “Easter egg strikes” throughout the week. Due to the air strikes in the Kayin
The Bangladeshi authorities must conduct prompt, thorough, impartial, and independent investigations into the death of at least 14 protesters across the country between 26 and 28 March, and respect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, said 11 human rights organizations in a joint statement today. The organizations also called on the
Described as a “fight to death” between a kobra and a mongoose, the struggle to topple the military junta and restore democracy in Myanmar have been relentless as people from different walks of life stage peaceful protest actions around the country. The military junta, however, has responded to the peaceful protests with
As the Tatmadaw marked the Myanmar Armed Forces Day on March 27, at least 114 people were killed by the military junta, the bloodiest day so far since the military coup on February 1. The mass killings came a day after the military junta warned the protesters that they will face the
In the past week, the military junta shut down mobile internet and wireless broadband internet (except for fibre internet) indefinitely. Crackdowns against the media were also intensified, with three journalists arrested in a week. Since the military’s Feb. 1 coup, a total of 40 journalists have been arrested by the junta, with
The people of Thailand will head to the polls for the municipal elections on 28 March 2021. Voters were able to participate in the the 2020 Thai Provincial Administration Organization (PAO) elections held on 20 December 2020, the first local elections since the civilian government was toppled by a military coup in
The Myanmar military staged a coup on 1 February 2021 grabbing power from the civilian government which undermined a democratic process that happened just months prior. The people of Myanmar strongly opposed the coup and have since been going out in the streets to peacefully protest and demand the restoration of democracy
First published on NAMFREL's Facebook Page on 17 March 2021. The National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) wishes to congratulate the people of Palawan province for turning up to vote in the Palawan Plebiscite last Saturday, March 13, 2021. Despite the inclement weather and the ongoing pandemic, Palaweños trooped to the
As the people of Myanmar continue the civil disobedience movement including nationwide street protests, the total number of deaths has doubled to at least 126 in the past week. The anti-coup protests saw another record-breaking surge in deaths on 14 March alone when at least 38 civilians were killed by security forces.
First published on NAMFREL's Facebook Page on 13 March 2021. PRESS RELEASEMarch 13, 2021, 1pm The National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) released its preliminary findings on the conduct of the 2021 Plebiscite, as observed by its volunteers who are currently stationed in different voting centers throughout Palawan. The preliminary observations
First published on the website of People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy on 9 March 2021. "Everything will be okay.” The phrase on the T-shirt of 19-year-old Kyal Sin, who was killed by a shot to the head on the streets of Mandalay as she joined anti-coup protests in Myanmar rings in our
The people of Myanmar continue the civil disobedience movement, which include street protests, civil service strikes, the boycott of military-linked business, and the social punishment campaign which netizens name and shame police, military personnel and their family members on social media and business owners refused to provide service to them. Myanmar saw
The Bangladeshi authorities must end their escalating crackdown on human rights, and respect and protect people’s rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in Bangladesh to curb protesters demanding justice for writer Mushtaq Ahmed’s death in prison on 25 February, the nine undersigned human rights organizations said in a joint statement
According to article 14 of the amended election law, the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan managed to successfully elect its administrative board to wit: Head, Deputy Head, and Secretary, as a result Mr. Awrangzeb has been elected as the Head of IEC, Mr. Mawlana Abdullah as the Deputy Head of IEC, and
The 2021 Myanmar military coup began on 1 February 2021 when the Myanmar military, Tatmadaw detained numerous government officials, including State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint, and Union Election Commission (UEC) Chair U Hla Thein, as well as pro-democracy activists and politicians from the ruling National League
First published on FAFEN's website on 23 February 2021. ANFREL member in Pakistan, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN), said they observed an improved quality of electoral processes during the by-elections held from 16-21 February 2021 in five provincial and three national assembly constituencies. FAFEN said the management of voting and
We, the undersigned organizations, call on the United Nations Security Council and UN member states to urgently institute a coordinated, global arms embargo on Myanmar in response to the February 1, 2021 military coup that has deprived the people of Myanmar of the right to democratically elect their government. Our concerns are
ANFREL member in Indonesia, the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perkumpulan untuk Pemilu dan Demokrasi | Perludem), published and launched the first edition of The Asia-Pacific Journal of Elections and Democracy on 17 February 2021. The journal is an off-shoot of their Journal of Elections and Democracy, a national publication, which expanded
Kabul-16, February 2021-for urgent release The Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA) expresses its deep concerns over IEC’s failure (wasting time) and delay to bring electoral reform. FEFA believes that wasting time or ignoring electoral reform will have negative impinge upon election process, building public trust on elections, gaining international
First published on MARUAH's website on February 11, 2021 MARUAH unequivocally condemns the military takeover of Myanmar on February 1, 2021. The Tatmadaw (military)overthrew the elected government of Myanmar, detained government leaders, civil service officers, activists, and human rights defenders, imposed a year-long Emergency on the country and has blocked intermittently access
On 1 February, the armed forces of Myanmar (Tatmadaw), ostensibly acting on allegations of voter fraud in the general elections of 8 November 2020, detained numerous government officials, including State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint, and Union Election Commission (UEC) Chair U Hla Thein, as well as
Joint Statement by Domestic Election Observer Organizations January 29, 2021 There is a growing concern within the public that the electoral disputes over the results of the 2020 general elections and different electoral processes would cause post-election instability, the delay of the peaceful power transition, and even the country’s democratic transition to
