BURMA 2010 ELECTION LAW

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Burma military passes key election laws
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8555386.stm

Burma’s military government has approved election laws that pave the way for polls expected this year.
Details of the laws have not yet been revealed but they are likely to include issues such as campaigning and the number of candidates per constituency.
The poll is part of the government’s “roadmap to democracy”, which has been widely criticised in the West.
Detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi cannot stand and her party has not confirmed it will take part.
It has said it wants to see the details of the new laws before deciding whether the field candidates, and has criticised the timing of the new laws.
The five elections laws will be published in detail on Tuesday, Burma’s state media said.
The laws are expected to lay out rules on how long candidates can campaign for, how they will register, how many candidates can run in each constituency and which parties – if any – will have access to state media for their campaign.
The document could also answer the key question of when the elections, the first in 20 years, will be held, says the BBC’s South-East Asia correspondent Rachel Harvey.
Burma’s last general election, in 1990, was overwhelmingly won by Ms Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), but the military government annulled the result….

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Regime Announces Election Law
http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=17985

The Burmese military regime on Monday announced it had released the much-awaited election law, though it did not set a date for the general election, which is scheduled to take place this year.
The state-run television announced that laws have been released regarding an election commission, the party registration process, and rules for members of parliament and regional legislatures.
“Details of the laws will be published in books and in the supplements of state-run newspapers,” the state TV reported.
Many observers doubt that the regime’s election laws will guarantee a free and fair election as more than 2,000 political prisoners and main opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi remain in detention.
On Friday, Singapore’s Foreign Minister George Yeo said that the critical factors that will count toward the legitimacy of the election in Burma will be national reconciliation among the many ethnic groups in the country and the participation of Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy (NLD) and other opposition parties.
He added that if the outcome of the election in Burma is not viewed as legitimate by Burma’s neighbors, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will face problems in recognizing it.
The NLD won a landslide victory in the last election, in 1990, but the military regime refused to recognize the results. The military generals spent more than 14 years drafting a new constitution which most opposition parties and dissidents have criticized as a mandate to entrench military rule.
The terms of the new constitution exclude Suu Kyi from participating in a general election as she is currently serving an 18-month sentence of house arrest, which is due to expire in November.
On Sunday, US Assistant Secretary Kurt Campbell began a tour of Asian nations, but according to a statement by the US State Department, his itinerary does not include a stop in Burma which he visited last year for talks with the military rulers and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi.
According to diplomatic sources, Campbell tried to plan a visit to the country, but he got no response from the regime.

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Burma passes law for Election Commission

http://english.mizzimamedia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3508:burma-passes-law-for-election-commission&catid=4:inside-burma&Itemid=3
Chaing Mai (Mizzima) – Mizzima has obtained an advanced copy of Burma’s Election Commission Law set to be released tomorrow. The law establishes a national election commission that will supervise this year’s national election and ominously enables the commission the right to veto candidates. The regime’s new law declares that the election commission that supervised the 1990 election is now abolished.

The election law states that the commission will consist of at least five members including the commission chairman. All members must be over fifty years of age and be approved by the State Peace and Development Council (the name to which Than Shwe’s military regime calls itself).

According to the law the commission members cannot be paid staff of any other organization or members of a political party. According to the election law the duties of the commission include the following: to hold parliamentary elections, to supervise parliamentary elections, form regional election commissions, approve constituencies, create national voters list, to approve candidates and form an oversight committee to solve disputes between parties regarding the election. The law also gives the commission the power to determine if parties are abiding by the election rules.

The election commission also has the power to determine if the election should be held in those places in Burma which are affected by “natural catastrophe or security reasons”. Mizzima has been informed by sources inside Burma that the regime may not conduct polling in areas controlled by armed ethnic organizations that have signed cease fire agreements with the regime but failed to transform their forces into members of the national Border Guard Force. Those organizations that have so far refused to become part of the border guard force include the Kachin Independence Organization (KIA) and the United Wa State Army, cited by many as militarily the strongest of Burma’s numerous armies.

The election law also stipulates that there will be a separate election commission for the new national capital district of Naypyidaw. The new capital is considered separate from Burma’s existing 14 States and Divisions.

The Burmese regime is going ahead with plans to hold the election based on the 2008 constitution which has been widely criticized by many both in Burma and abroad. The constitution guarantees the military a permanent role in the running of the country’s daily affairs.

The international community has frequently called on the Burmese military regime to hold “free, fair and inclusive” elections and release the more than 2100 political prisoners that remain behind bars…