People use posters to show they reject election in Northern Burma

People showed their rejection of the upcoming junta-run election by pasting up posters today in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, northern Burma, according to civilian activists.

Kachin capital Myitkyina, Northern Burma. Photo: Kachin News Group

About 50 A-4 sized posters with the words “No 2010 Election” written in Burmese were put up this morning at main markets, along roadsides and at schools in Myitkyina, a local civilian activist by the name of Awng Gam said.

He said the posters did not suggest people boycott the November 7 election.

He told the Thailand-based Kachin News Group, “We’d like to show our attitude, that we simply don’t like this election”.

Most of the hand written and computer generated anti-election posters were taken down quickly by the authorities, but some posters could still be found in the evening, said a local eyewitness.

The recently announced laws governing the election are based on the 2008 constitution, which analysts argue guarantees the military leaders administrative, legislative and judiciary control of the country indefinitely.

The government controlled Union Election Commission used the constitution to refuse independent political parties, and individual candidates which are not linked to the junta permission to contest the election.

In Kachin State, no independent Kachin parties or individual candidates were accepted to run in the election.

The five political parties selected to run are the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the Unity and Democracy Party of Kachin State (UDPKS), the National Unity Party (NUP), the Shan Nationals Democratic Party (SNDP) and the National Democratic Force (NDF).

Only the NDF is not affiliated with the country’s military rulers. But, the party’s election campaigns have been disrupted by members of the junta sponsored USDP and military authorities.

The now dissolved Kachin State Progressive Party (KSPP), led by Dr. Tu Ja, was quite popular in Kachin State, but it was rejected by the Election Commission.

Previously, every anti-junta poster movement in Kachin State was led by All Kachin Students’ Union (AKSU), an underground Kachin student organization but today was conducted by ordinary people.

Source:http://kachinnews.com/news/1766-people-use-posters-to-show-they-reject-election-in-northern-burma.html