The Asian Network for Free Elections(ANFREL) was established in 1997 as Asia’s first regional network of civil society organizations. Its director, Somsri Hananuntasuk, has just returned from Afghanistan where the group was allowed to freely monitor the polls, interview candidates and hold press conferences. It’s a world away from Burma, she tells DVB, where
The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which is backed by Burma’s military, is campaigning ethnic Kachin churches, using small donations to gain votes on November 7th, according to Kachin church sources. On October 11, USDP candidate, U Thein Zaw, campaigned at the Kachin Roman Catholic Church in Gat Shang Yang Village,
Shortly after the promulgation of the Union Election Commission Law in March, Burma's junta appointed a Union Election Commission of 18 members. The commission is led by former major-general Thein Soe, who has served as a military judge advocate-general and deputy chief justice of the Supreme Court. The Irrawaddy compiled brief profiles
Representative from the All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMRDP) say the party plans to delay sending in its Hluttaw [candidate list] as long as possible, to avoid drawing notice from government-run political groups. According to a vice campaign organizer, the AMRDP is withholding its candidate list because it fears that early announcements
Late in the morning on May 27, 2009, a shouting throng raised their voices at the gate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees compound in Mae Sot, Thailand... Author’s Note: Nelson Mandela, a man who knows, has said: “There is no easy road to freedom anywhere, and many of us
Inordinate delay by the Burmese Election Commission (EC) to grant approval to the Kachin State Progressive Party (KSPP) led by former Vice-Chairman of ‘Kachin Independence Organization’ (KIO), has considerably delayed organizational work. “We are awaiting party registration from the Commission to start organizational work. We feel that there is deliberate delay in
Burma will hold parliamentary elections on Nov. 7, the first in 20 years. According to the new Constitution approved in a referendum in 2008, the country has a bicameral parliament at the national level and a regional parliament in each of seven states and seven divisions. On Aug.11, the Union Election Commission
