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1 [1] (November 4, 2015)

handle is hein.crs/govcczw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: F. November 4, 2015 Assessing Burma's Parliamentary Elections On November 8, 2015, Burma (Myanmar) is scheduled to hold its second nationwide parliamentary election since the military junta that seized power in 1962 transferred power to a mixed civilian/military government in March 2011. President Them Sein and the Union Election Commission (UEC) have promised that the election will be free and fair according to international standards. The Obama Administration has called on the Burmese authorities to hold transparent, inclusive, and credible elections. Developments during the campaign period and some aspects of the election rules and regulations have prompted concerns that the elections could fall short of being either free and fair, or transparent, inclusive, and credible. Some observers argue that President Them Sein, the UEC, Burma's military (also known as the Tatmadaw), and the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) appear to be seeking to ensure that the USDP wins enough seats in Burma's bicameral Union Parliament to retain power and select a pro-military president. Other observers, however, argue that despite some irregularities in the election process, the results will likely reflect the wishes of the Burmese people. For many years, the international community has judged elections around the world by whether observers deemed them to be free and fair. In March 1994, the Inter- Parliamentary Union (IPU), to which Burma is a member and the United States is not, adopted a set of criteria for free and fair elections. Those criteria covered voting and election rights, the rights and responsibilities of candidates and political parties, and the rights and responsibilities of the government in conducting free and fair elections. Among the criteria are the right of every adult citizen to vote on a non-discriminatory basis; the right to appeal if denied the right to vote; the right to campaign on an equal basis throughout the country; equal access to the media for all candidates and political parties; the provision of an effective, impartial and non-discriminatory procedure for the registration of voters; and the provision of a voting process so as to avoid fraud or other illegality. Some observers have challenged the use of free and fair for being too vague and potentially implying thresholds that could be too high for many countries realistically to meet. The Obama Administration and the State Department have generally used the terms transparent, inclusive, and credible with reference to assessing the Burmese elections. Several recent developments prompt concerns about whether Burma's upcoming elections will meet either standard or those international standards. Burma's 2008 constitution confers complete authority over elections to the Union Election Commission (UEC), which is appointed by the president. The chairman is Tin Aye, a retired lieutenant general and previously a USDP member of parliament. Under the constitution, the UEC's decisions are final and conclusive with respect to the conduct of the elections, the campaign activities of political parties and their candidates, the counting of the ballots, and the announcement of the official results. The UEC is permitting international election monitors, including delegations from the Carter Center and the European Union, as well as the foreign embassies in Burma. The election monitors reportedly are not being provided full access to advance balloting, particularly on military installations. Access to advance balloting may be important as the results in 2010 were affected by the last- minute delivery of ballot boxes containing advance ballots. The UEC issued the election rules in May 2014, but subsequently revised them after complaints from various political parties who felt the rules were overly restrictive. Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) and other political parties claim that their candidates are being arbitrarily and unfairly restricted in their campaign activities by local UEC officials citing provisions in the revised election rules and regulations. The UEC has also been criticized for its lack of transparency over its rejection of 88 candidates, including 17 of the 18 candidates from the largely-Muslim Democracy and Human Rights Party (DHRP) and at least one Rohingya candidate who is currently a member of parliament, Shwe Maung. While 11 of the candidates, including Shwe Maung, were reinstated as candidates upon appeal, the circumstances around the initial decision to bar their candidacies remain unclear. In terms of the number of political parties fielding candidates, the 2015 elections are expected to be more inclusive than the 2010 elections. A total of 92 political parties have candidates in the 2015 election, compared to 40 in 2010. However, in terms of the number of people eligible to vote, the 2015 elections may be viewed as less inclusive than the 2010 elections. The UEC has experienced continuing problems in compiling an accurate voter registration list. In late May, the UEC posted initial voter registration lists across the country, which the NLD and other political parties claimed were 30%-80% inaccurate. The UEC made revisions to the lists, which were posted in late September. However, the NLD and others continued to find errors, including fake .O 'T p\w -- , gn'a', goo mppm qq\ a , q 'S I 11LIANJILiN,