BANGKOK - MYANMAR is scrapping voting in swathes of insurgency-plagued ethnic areas in its first election in two decades - a move criticised as excluding millions from a poll already seen as undemocratic.
State media announced late on Thursday that around 300 villages across Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Mon and Shan states would be excluded from the November 7 election because conditions are not in place for a 'free and fair' vote.
One Shan leader, who did not want to be named, estimated that in that state alone about two million people - around 30 per cent of the population - would not get the opportunity to vote.
The 'Tatmadaw' state army, which has ruled since 1962, has long fought to control the country's ethnic rebel groups, some of whom have waged decades-long armed uprisings, claiming neglect and mistreatment.
The entire region in Shan state controlled by the military wing of the ethnic Wa, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), has been excluded from the vote, the Shan leader said.
Other groups operating in the affected areas include the Kachin Independence Army, the Shan State Army and the Karen National Liberation Army.
Thailand-based Saw David Taw of the Ethnic Nationalities Council - a coalition of Myanmar ethnic groups - said the junta had shied away from a vote in areas where there is friction with rebels, even though some had agreed peace pacts. -- AFPSource:http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_579751.html
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