Bhamo voters forced to listen to USDP speech

The construction of Kachin symbol Manau Poles and Ground in Aung Ta in Bhamo were destroyed by a bulldozer of Burmese military government on November 12, last year. Photo: Kachin News Group

Voters in Bhamo Township, in Burma’s northern Kachin State, were forced to listen to the election campaign speech of the candidate for the military government controlled Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) during last week, according to Bhamo voters.

Thousands of voters in Bhamo, also called, Manmaw, in Kachin Township, were forced to listen to the campaign speech of U Lun Maung, Auditor General of the ruling Burmese junta and USDP candidate of Bhamo Township for the People’s Parliament last week, according to local residents.

By order of local military authorities, people in each quarter and village-tract had to attend the venue where Lun Maung gave speeches against their will, said a local resident who had to listen to the speech.

A village administrator in Bhamo told the Thailand-based Kachin News Group, “We were ordered to round up 300 or 400 people in every small quarter and village-tract, and up to 500 voters in every larger quarter and village-tract by the USDP candidate Lun Maung. So, we had to assemble voters for the USDP.”

All administrators of quarters and village-tracts in the townships were also ordered to assemble between 200 and 300 voters in their areas to listen to Lun Maung’s speech, USDP sources said.

There are 10 quarters in the downtown and over 60 village-tracts outside downtown Bhamo Township, with 66,108 eligible voters according to the Bhamo Election Commission.

Bhamo is the second most populated city in Kachin State, where Kachin, Shan and Burman people live.

Last week, Lun Maung gave his election speeches to hundreds of voters who were forcibly assembled by their administrators in every quarter and village-tract, local voters said.

Lun Maung is from the Shan ethnic group, and grew up in Nawng Hku Sam Pa village, about three miles west of downtown Bhamo.

Three candidates linked with the junta are running for the seat in the People’s Parliament in Bhamo Township in Sunday’s Election -- U Lun Maung from the USDP, U Ohn Ngwe from the National Unity Party (NUP) and U Ko Ko Lay from Shan Nationals Democratic Party (also known as the White Tiger party).

In Kachin State, four parties aligned with the junta and an independent party will contest the election, but no independent Kachin party or individual candidate was authorized to run by the government-controlled Election Commission.

Source:http://kachinnews.com/news/1780-bhamo-voters-forced-to-listen-to-usdp-speech.html