Myanmar junta sets election date of Nov. 7

[August 13, 2010]  YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Myanmar's ruling military junta announced Friday that the country's first elections in two decades will be held Nov. 7, finally setting a date for polls that critics have dismissed as a sham designed to cement military rule.

Foreign governments have urged Myanmar to ensure the elections are open, fair and include the party of detained pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. Her party, however, has decided to boycott the vote, saying the junta has imposed unfair rules that restrict campaigning and effectively bar the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and other political prisoners from participating.

The election date is another symbolic blow to Suu Kyi's chances of taking part -- it falls just days before her current term of house arrest is due to expire on Nov. 13.

"This is all orchestrated. It's a carefully arranged plan by the (junta) to get the right results and further marginalize the opposition," said Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asian division.

"This is all about transitioning from a military government to a military-controlled civilian government," he said.

Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory in the last elections in 1990. But the junta refused to honor the results and has kept her locked away, mostly under house arrest, for 15 of the past 21 years, ignoring global pleas for her freedom.

Her National League for Democracy party and others said the election date would not allow sufficient time for campaigning, which cannot officially begin until the junta announces a campaign period.

"Without freedom of media or expression, the elections cannot be either free or fair," party spokesman Nyan Win said.

Friday's brief announcement by the Election Commission was carried on state TV and radio.

"Multiparty general elections for the country's parliament will be held on Sunday Nov. 7," said the announcement, which called on political parties to submit their candidate lists starting Monday through Aug. 30.

The elections are part of the junta's "roadmap to democracy," a seven-step program which it says will shift the nation from 50 years of military rule.

Election laws passed ahead of the voting have been criticized as undemocratic by the international community. They effectively bar Suu Kyi and other political prisoners -- estimated at more than 2,000 -- and members of religious orders from taking part in the elections. Suu Kyi's party was also automatically disbanded under the laws for refusing to register for the elections.

Tight rules for campaigning bar parties from chanting, marching or saying anything at rallies that could tarnish the country's image.

Renegade members of Suu Kyi's disbanded party have formed a new group, the National Democratic Force, to carry the party's mantle in the vote.

Suu Kyi, who favored a boycott, has expressed dissatisfaction through her lawyer with the breakaway party, which says it is having trouble finding the money required to register candidates.

All candidates contesting the polls must pay the Election Commission 500,000 kyat ($500), more than half a year's salary for the average schoolteacher.

"Nothing has been free or fair since the start," said Khin Maung Swe, leader of the National Democratic Force. "Despite all the obstacles we are determined to contest the elections."

The junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party is expected to receive the most votes because of its massive party funds, nationwide presence and a claimed membership of 24 million people in a country of about 60 million.

Forty political parties have registered to contest the elections, most of which are new and unknown.

Several parties have criticized the election process. The Democratic Party said it complained Tuesday to the Election Commission that police are intimidating its members.

A 2008 constitution adopted under the junta's roadmap reserves 25 percent of parliamentary seats for the military and says more than 75 percent of the lawmakers must approve any amendments to the charter.

[Associated Press]

Associated Press writer Jocelyn Gecker in Bangkok contributed to this report.

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