No polling stations placed in KIO areas by EC

KIO capital Laiza on China-Burma border, northern Burma. Photo: Kachin News Group

The Burmese military government’s Election Commission has not yet placed polling stations in Kachin State and Northern Shan State, the territories controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) in northern Burma, according to KIO officials.

No meetings on the election have taken place between the regime and the armed ceasefire group, despite the fact the countrywide election has been called for November 7, according to Wawhkyung Sin Wa, Deputy General Secretary of the KIO.

KIO officials, in Laiza, the capital of Kachin State, located on the China-Burma border, said there are tens of thousands of voters in its controlled areas in the two states.

Currently, the KIO is more interested in a response from the Burmese junta to the August 30 KIO statement rejecting the government’s request to surrender its weapons, rather than issues surrounding the election, KIO officials said.

The KIO said in that statement it will transform itself and its armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in the future, only if the country is transformed into a genuine federal union, based on the 1947 Panglong Agreement.

The KIO also stated that it would like the upcoming election to be “free and fair”.

During the May 10, 2008, constitutional referendum, the KIO authorized the regime to place polling stations in its controlled areas. It also ordered civilians in the controlled areas to approve the regime-designed constitution.

Unfortunately, applications by the Kachin State Progressive Party (KSPP), based in Kachin State, and the Northern Shan State Progressive Party (NSPP) based in Northeast Shan State, to receive permission to run in the election, were rejected by the government controlled Union Election Commission, based in the country’s capital, Naypyitaw.

The two parties are considered the largest Kachin parties in each state, and were supported politically by the KIO.

In Kachin State, the KIO is like a parallel government because it controls areas outside the main cities and towns around Kachin State.

Source:http://kachinnews.com/news/1738-no-polling-stations-placed-in-kio-areas-by-ec.html