Myanmar votes,first time in 20 yrs

State television announced Sunday night that 57 candidates who ran against no opposition had been declared winners of seats in national and regional parliaments. Forty-three are USDP members and the others are allies of the military government. One of the winners is Foreign Minister Nyan Win.

No matter the election results,the Constitution sets aside 25 per cent of parliamentary seats for military appointees.

The streets of Yangon were unusually quiet and voter turnout appeared light at many polling stations. About 40,000 polling stations across the Southeast Asian country opened at 6 am and closed 10 hours later. Riot police were deployed at some road junctions,but no soldiers were seen near the balloting sites.

Election rules were written to benefit the USDP,and hundreds of potential opposition candidates —including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi,whose party won a landslide victory in the last elections in 1990 but was barred from taking office — are under house arrest or in prison.

Several parties have complained that voters were strong-armed into voting for the pro-junta party,with some threatened that they would lose their jobs if they did not.

Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein,general secretary of the Democratic Party,said there had been widespread cheating by the USDP. “There have been reports that one person has cast votes for his whole family,” he said. The USDP also threatened farmers with arrest if they did not vote for it,he said.

Yi Yi,a computer technician,said,“I have to go out and vote against the USDP. That’s how I will defy them.” “I voted for the (democracy party) in 1990. This is my second time to vote,” said 60-year-old man,Tin Aung,when asked which party he had voted for. He then looked around and added,“I am really scared.” Others said they had abstained from voting because that would legitimise the elections.

President Barack Obama called the elections “anything but free and fair” and urged people to speak out for human rights in Myanmar. “For too long,the people of Burma have been denied the right to determine their own destiny,” he said.

Yangon-based diplomats from the US,Britain,France,Germany and Italy turned down a government invitation to take “exploratory tours” of the voting Sunday due to rules applying to the visits. The junta earlier banned foreign journalists from the elections.

Despite criticism,some experts on Myanmar said the election could herald a modicum of change. “The elections,for all their farcical elements,have already achieved something: Burmese people are listening and talking more about politics,” said Monique Skidmore of the Australian National University.

Democracy advocates are also hopeful Suu Kyi will be freed from house arrest after the election,perhaps as early as November 13. Although among the country’s eligible voters,she said she would not cast a ballot Sunday. Suu Kyi has been locked up in her Yangon villa on and off since the ruling generals ignored the 1990 poll results.