Myanmar opposition hopes dashed by election rout

BANGKOK - A crushing win for a junta-backed party has stripped Myanmar's election of any veneer of legitimacy and leaves the routed opposition with no more than a "whisper" in parliament, observers say.


Although Sunday's poll had already been widely criticised, with the odds heavily stacked in favour of the military's proxies, some democracy activists had taken part in the hope that they would finally gain a political voice.

That cautious optimism was dashed after the army-backed United Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) claimed Tuesday it had swept about 80 percent of the seats on offer amid widespread accusations of intimidation and voter fraud.

"It comes across as bare-faced, extraordinary," said an international observer in Yangon who did not want to be named.

"It will strip away any legitimacy for this process at all."

Opposition parties have urged authorities to act against "cheating", complaining about widespread reports of irregularities, particularly with advance ballots.

But few expect any serious investigation into complaints over the poll, which appeared to go according to plan for the iron-fisted junta.

"The regime does not want anyone to come into its power-house. That's it," said Maung Zarni, a Myanmar research fellow at the London School of Economics.

"It's very North Korean style."

Even the National Unity Party, which also has close links to the military and fielded almost 1,000 candidates, appeared to have been routed, despite earlier speculation it could benefit from protest votes against junta proxies.

The USDP's overwhelming victory was a bitter blow for the opposition parties who gambled their reputations in the hope of making at least a small step towards democracy, after nearly five decades of autocratic rule.

In doing so, they broke away from the now-disbanded National League for Democracy (NLD), led by detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, which opted to boycott the poll - a decision that deeply split the opposition.

The optimists who contested for a decent foothold in parliament have now had their hopes dashed: with a quarter of the legislature already reserved for the army, the military and its proxies look set to hold about 85 percent of seats.

Such a majority would easily enable them to pass legislation and pick the president, who will in turn appoint the cabinet ministers, chief justice and Supreme Court judges.

The international observer said the pro-democracy hopefuls had been "kicked in the teeth" by the apparent result.

"It means a voice in parliament becomes a whisper from the darkest recess of the chamber," he said.

The United States, Europe and Japan denounced the vote as anything but free and fair, but Myanmar's regional ally China and its Southeast Asian neighbours welcomed the poll as a step towards democracy.

The few opposition candidates who have succeeded now face the tough decision of whether to enter an internationally derided parliament where they will have scant influence.

"It's almost a choice as difficult as the NLD's on whether to participate or not. They must be profoundly disappointed," said the observer.

"It's really a tough call for them."

In practice, such a large majority for pro-junta forces means they could call parliament as little as once a year, as required by a controversial constitution pushed through in 2008.

"The military wants to have control over everything," said Thailand-based Myanmar analyst Aung Naing Oo.

The biggest opposition party which participated, the National Democratic Force (NDF) - an NLD offshoot - appeared to have won only about 10 percent of the more than 160 seats it contested, its leader said Tuesday.

The second-biggest, the Democratic Party, did not appear to have won a single seat on the national legislature.

One option for the opposition candidates would be to refuse to take their handful of seats and try to regroup under Suu Kyi's leadership.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has spent most of the past two decades locked up, is scheduled to be released on Saturday when her current term of house arrest ends.

They could put out a strong collective statement saying: "We are getting out of this process. Our elected members will not take their seats. Let them run their monkey show," said Zarni.

And even Suu Kyi's release is far from a done deal, after an election that made clear the regime cares little about outside opinion.

"The regime is saying: We don't care what the public thinks... or the rest of the world," said Zarni.

"If the regime's election is meant as a PR exercise, they have failed diabolically."

Source:http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20101110-246627.html

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