Shan party expects to win majority votes in areas along the Thai-Burma border

Shan National Democratic Party (SNDP) members in Shan State East’s Mongton township, opposite Thailand’s Chiangmai, are saying that they are confident to achieve majority votes in the areas although junta-back Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is also running parallel with them, according to local sources.

SNDP opening ceremony of branch office in Mongton (photo: SHAN)

“Most of our members including executive members are confident to win at least 60 percent of voters from Mongton,” according to a local SNDP member. “For me, I am 80 percent sure we will win the most votes.”

Locals say that the two parties are currently are running neck to neck. The USDP is expecting to get support from Lahu voters most of whom are members of junta-backed local militia units and the SNDP is reported to have gained more support from the Shans and non-Shans such as ethnic Chinese and Wa residents.

“The Lahu National Development Party (LNDP) candidacy has caused confusion in the township as the USDP candidate here is also a Lahu,” said a SNDP member who asked not to be named.

Burma’s ethnic Lahu National Democratic Party (LNDP) will reportedly contest in 6 townships across the Shan State: Tangyan Township in the North and Mongton, Mongpiang, Monghsat, Mongphyak and Tachilek townships in the east.

“People don’t look so frightened now after the White Tiger (popular name for the SNDP) chairman himself came to campaign and explain about the election process,” an election watcher from Pongpakhem sub-township, Mongton township said.

“Before, people were afraid of USDA (Union Solidarity and Development Association, a mother organization of USDP)’s pressure and threats such as if anyone who doesn’t vote for the party would be put in jail.”

On 17 September, SNDP chairman Sai Ai Pao and his vice chairman Sai Hsawng Si were said to have taken pains to explain about the electoral process to the people after hearing most of them were afraid to get involved and participate in the elections, according to SNDP member from Mongton.

“Yet most people in Mongton were still afraid to welcome them because they thought that the USDP members were watching them,” he said. “The local authorities however did not disturb them during the campaign, but they later came to ask what the party had told the villagers.”

The SNDP opened its branch office in Mongton Township on 18 September. It was mostly welcomed by elderly people from surrounding towns and village tracts such as Pongpakhem and Nakawngmu, said a source from Nakawngmu.

“Some Wa elders have also promised that they will encourage their people to vote for the party on the 7 November polls,” according to a local source.

According to the Wa statistics, there are over 5,000 eligible voters in its controlled areas on the Thai-Burma border. However, most of the village tracts in Shan State that were declared “lacking conditions to hold free and fair elections” are in the Wa-Mongla areas: altogether 252 village tracts with about 1,870 villages.

Regarding this announcement many human rights groups and international communities have stated that the election is a sham and is “exclusive”.

Nevertheless, Burmese prime minister warned citizens to protect the country’s image during November elections and to prevent anyone from derailing the first polls in 20 years.

Source:http://shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3226:shan-party-expects-to-win-majority-votes-in-areas-along-the-thai-burma-border&catid=85:politics&Itemid=266