Myanmar Junta’s Election Commission Charges Suu Kyi and Win Myint With Fraud
By The Irrawaddy 16 November 2021
Myanmar’s junta-appointed election commission filed charges against detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint, who have already faced several charges brought by the junta, and other 14 people over their alleged electoral fraud in the 2020 election.
Among those who face prosecution is former UEC chairman U Hla Thein, members U Myint Naing and U Than Htay, Union Government’s Office minister U Min Thu, Mandalay Region chief minister Dr. Zaw Myint Maung and Naypyitaw mayor Dr. Myo Aung, said the UEC. They have been held since the February coup.
They are the first public prosecutions of UEC members since the coup in February.
Though the junta-appointed UEC said it has brought charges against 16 individuals, it only named eight of them and did not specify the charges.
Myanmar’s military has claimed the NLD government engineered its landslide victory in the November 2020 general election through widespread voter fraud. It annulled the election results after the coup.
U Hla Thein was arrested after the coup and more than 100 election commissioners were subsequently detained. A majority of them were later released. However, the chairman and around 20 commission members remain in detention.
The regime reappointed a new commission chaired by U Thein Soe, a former junta judge advocate general who oversaw the 2010 election, to oversee a military-controlled election.
The regime, new UEC and military-backed political parties have been working to replace current the first-past-the-post voting system with proportional representation in an attempt to weaken the NLD’s electoral dominance.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi currently faces 11 charges and U Win Myint faces two.
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