Low turnout mars Myanmar’s first election in 20 years

Myanmar held its first election in 20 years on Sunday under tight security, a scripted vote that assures army-backed parties an easy win but brings a hint of parliamentary politics to one of Asia’s most oppressed states.

The carefully choreographed end to half a century of direct army rule is largely a race between two military-backed parties running virtually unopposed, due to complex election rules that stifled any prospect of pro-democracy forces causing an upset. 

Low turnout and fraud charges marred voting nationwide. Many doubted their ballot would alter the authoritarian status quo. Some packed Yangon’s pagodas instead of voting. In Haka, capital of Chin state bordering India and Bangladesh, more people attended church than cast ballots, witnesses said. 

The poll will not bring an end to Western sanctions. The Internet was barely functioning, hit by repeated failures widely believed to have been orchestrated by the junta to control information. Power failures also hampered turnout.

It is the first election since 1990, when Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy beat the army-backed party in a landslide. The junta ignored that result.

Suu Kyi, detained for 15 of the past 21 years, urged a boycott of this poll. The junta’s political juggernaut, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), is fielding 27 incumbent ministers.
Closely aligned with supreme leader senior general Than Shwe, it is top-heavy with recently retired generals.

It is contesting all the estimated 1,158 seats up for grabs. Its only real rival, the National Unity Party (NUP), is also backed by the army and running in 980 seats.

But while the NUP and USDP are both authoritarian, they may pursue opposing social and economic policies in parliament, ultimately fostering greater democratic debate in a country where an estimated 2,100 activists and politicians are behind bars, diplomats said.