From Bhupen Gowami
Guwahathi: Five years after Aung San Suu Kyi’s landslide victory, the vote in Myanmar is held today. Against the backdrop of an epidemic, the Rohingya crisis, and military claims, all in the world look at the stakes for Suu Kyi and her country. According to an intelligence report on the Indo-Myanmar international border, voting for the general elections in Myanmar has begun. In which 3.7 crore voters across the country will choose their candidate. Myanmar kicked off its multi-party general elections on Sunday as more than 37 million qualified voters went to the polls across the country. The elections mark the second general election for the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi under the current constitution. Before taking the reins of the government the following year, the NLD won the landslide for the last time in 2015.
A total of 42,047 polling stations are being run in accordance with health precautions due to the Covid-19 epidemic. According to the Myanmar Union Election Commission, out of 87 political parties and 260 independent runners candidates, 5,639 candidates are competing for 1,117 parliamentary seats in the elections. Out of them, 1,565 candidates are contesting for the House of Representatives (Lower House), 779 candidates for the National Assembly (Upper House), 3,112 for regional or state parliaments and 183 for ethnic minority seats.
In the elections, the ruling NLD fielded 1,106 candidates, while the Central Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) had 1,089 seats for parliamentary seats. President U Win Myint and State Counselor Suu Kyi are contesting in the seats for the House of Representatives (Lower House) and Vice President Henry Van Theo is representing the constituency of Chin State for the seat in the National Rajya Sabha (upper house).
Myanmar’s vote to challenge China became important for India, India has kept the election process under its supervision. As per the directions of the Prime Minister of India, the North East Regional Officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of External Affairs are keeping the Myanmar election process under their supervision. The Home Ministry official said in Guwahati today that the Government of India has maintained cordial relations with both Suu Kyi and the Myanmar army.
Buddhism is playing the role of cultural bridge between Myanmar and India and the Modi government has supported the Myanmar government on the Rohingya crisis. However, India is far behind its competitive China in terms of infrastructure construction in Myanmar. India is now working on two major infrastructure projects in Myanmar. These include an India-Myanmar and Thailand trilateral highway and another multi-model transit project connecting India directly to its north-eastern states through Myanmar. A port and an inland waterway are to be constructed in both these projects. Meanwhile, China is eyeing Myanmar like all neighbouring countries. He has tried to woo Suu Kyi and nld from 2015. In 2016, when Suu Kyi went to China, a red carpet was laid for her. In return, Chinese President Xi Jinping made a grand welcome in Myanmar in January this year. However, on Xi’s visit, the draft of a new infrastructure project between Myanmar and China was not signed, but the two countries expressed their willingness to work on the China-Myanmar economic corridor at a fast pace.
The corridor also includes plans to build a high speed railway between industrial bases inside Myanmar from the Chinese border and a port in the middle of Rakhine province at a cost of $1.3 billion. The port will give China a way to land in the Indian Ocean and will strengthen its beld and road plan. Some kind of initiative against China in Myanmar can be seen only in stressed regions where its large infrastructure project is showing a huge threat.
The Myanmar army started demolishing the terrorist samhus of Rakhine province in 2017, and seven to eight lakh Rohingya fled to Bangladesh. The army’s action was supported by Aung San Suu Kyi and her government. Rohingya refugees are reportedly living in the world’s largest refugee camp Cox’s Bazar. Bangladesh wants Myanmar to withdraw Rashah, but Myanmar says the Rohingya are not its own people but Bengali. That is why he is not willing to withdraw rashah. Rashah voted in the last elections, but this time they are absent.
The nomination of several Rohingya candidates has been cancelled. Last month, Myanmar’s election commission had said that elections would not be held in several parts of Rakhine province due to security reasons. However, meanwhile the Rohingya crisis and the Kovid-19 epidemic have changed a lot in Myanmar. The Myanmar Union Election Commission closed elections in 15 townships and 665 villages in Bago region, Kachin, Kainat, Mon, Rakhine, Shan and Chin states. Compliance with preventive measures is provided to reduce the transmission of coronavirus to polling stations. The ballots will be counted in the presence of candidates and observers contesting the elections after the polling booths close to 4 pm.
