People Avoid RNDP Rally

Sittwe: The Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, or RNDP, started campaigning for votes on 23 September, but people have avoided attending the party rallies after authorities have been disturbing people, said party chairman, Dr. Aye Maung.

Speaking to Narinjara over the phone, he said, "We started our party's campaign for votes at Aung Mingala Village in Sittwe Township on 23 September, but many villagers avoided the rally because authorities were taking photos of those who were there."

However, over 200 villagers, mostly women, did attend the rally in spite of the authorities taking photos.

"We hoped many people would attend the rally, but no more than 200 people attended because many elder men in the village avoided it out of fear of retribution by the authority if they did attend the rally," Dr. Aye said.

A plainclothes police officer and the village chairman took photos during the rally, but no one knows the reason why they were photographing those in attendance.

According to local sources, if the election is fair and free, the current government-backed USDP would be unable to win in Arakan State because few people willingly support the party. The RNDP, on the other hand, has potential to win in many of the constituencies in Arakan State, and because of this, the authority has been threatening people to keep them from supporting the Rakhine party, the elder said.

On 24 September, the RNDP conducted its second rally for votes at Maung Ni Bying Village on the outskirts of Sittwe, where the authority also took photos of those in attendance.

Many villagers avoided attending that rally because of the authorities' presence. A few intelligence, police, and village council officials closely watched the rally and took photos.

"We held two rallies in Sittwe Township to campaign for votes, but we could not do the rallies freely because of the authorities' disturbance. Sittwe, where the incident took place, is the capital of Arakan State. The rural area of Arakan will be even harder to canvass for votes than Sittwe," Dr Aye added.

Local authorities in Arakan State reportedly fully support the USDP for the upcoming election. The people of Arakan doubt the election will be free and fair, as the government has backed the USDP and is not neutral.

Source:http://www.narinjara.com/details.asp?id=2746