Is a flawed election better than none at all?
Asia Correspondent John Sparks blogs on Burma’s first elections in 20 years and asks if a flawed election is better than no election?
This is a question that Yuzar Maw Htun, a 46-year-old woman from Rangoon in Burma, has decided in the affirmative.
She is a political novice, she’s never run in anything before, but this year she felt she had to do something.
Burma, also known as Myanmar, is a deeply repressive country. It has been ruled for the last 62 years by a secretive cabal of military generals. The current leader is a former postman called Than Shwe, a man rarely seen in public.
Following years of both domestic and international pressure, Burma held its first election in 20 years yesterday. Up for grabs, more than a thousand seats in newly created national and regional parliaments. The move signalled the end of direct-military rule in the country but the poll has already been written off as a totally fraudulent exercise by leaders in London and Washington. Most independent analysts think the militant junta will continue to pull the strings.
Yuzar Maw Htun says it is worth having a go however.
She is an independent pro-democracy candidate and she wants to improve living conditions for people in Burma. The parliamentary election gives an opportunity to try, even if it’s a tiny opportunity.
“Why should we sit aside and say negative things and do nothing,” she said; “we have been waiting … for over two decades and I don’t think we can wait for change by doing nothing.”
Channel 4 News has filmed Ms Htun on the campaign trail using a team of local journalists provided by pro-democracy group, Democratic Voice of Burma. These journalists have worked under difficult conditions. Filming without authorisation carries a hefty 10 year prison sentence.
Ms Htun faced plenty of difficulties. First she had to come up with a non-refundable $500 ‘entry-fee’ to run in her Ragoon constituency. This sum is far beyond the means of most people in Burma.
She had had to give the regime seven days-notice before she met more than three supporters at the same time and she had to clear the content of any conversations with members of the public in advance.
Ms Htun found it particularly difficult to run a campaign this way: “we are not allowed to freely talk to the masses,” she said. “I want to directly respond to voters’ questions …. But I don’t want to read (from) paper so how can I put one week ahead what I have going to say?”
The electoral rules are heavily tilted in favour of two political parties with close links to the regime. One of them, the Union Solidarity and Development Party was the only organisation with the financial means to run a candidate in all 1157 constituencies for the national parliament.
The USDP are the heavy favourites to win the election – although the military has already reserved 25 per cent of the seats in the national parliament anyway.
But Ms Thun is not discouraged. “At least now I can talk politics publicly” she says, adding, “(it) will encourage the young generation and promote politicians to come out.”