RANGOON — Elected representatives who won seats in Burma’s historic 1990 election, the results of which were ignored by the former military regime, will mark the 25th anniversary of the poll next month.
David Hla Myint, secretary of the 1990 Elected Pyithu Hluttaw Representatives Group and a member of the anniversary’s organizing committee, told The Irrawaddy that the silver jubilee would be commemorated at an event at Rangoon University’s Yudathan Hall on May 27.
“We would like to express the reality of the 1990 elections, the elected representatives and their sufferings through this anniversary,” he said.
In the 1990 general election, democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won 392 out of the 485 contested seats. The junta refused to recognize the victory, and officially annulled the victory in 2010 ahead of that year’s election, which was widely regarded as fraudulent.
David Hla Myint, who won the constituency he contested for the NLD in 1990, said that the anniversary would be marked with the release of a report detailing the histories of those elected in the poll, many of whom were arrested and tortured by the military regime in the election’s aftermath.
The 1990 Elected Pyithu Hluttaw Representatives Group was formed last year and is chaired by Khun Htun Oo, the leader of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy. Its membership is drawn from a number of politicians currently serving in Burma’s myriad ethnic political parties.
The group is also pushing for constitutional reform on many fronts, arguing amongst other points that the current charter’s allocation of one quarter of parliamentary seats to military appointees would undermine the next poll’s credibility.
“The 1990 election was free and fair, despite the fact that the results were not recognized,” said David Hla Myint. “But the 2015 election is not likely to be free and fair because it will be conducted under the 2008 Constitution.”
