YANGON — Before the newly elected parliament convenes on Feb. 1 – the second national assembly dominated by the National League for Democracy (NLD) – Myanmar’s military has called on either the government, Union Election Commission (UEC) or outgoing parliamentarians to prove the November general election was free and fair so it can accept the results.
The military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) says the NLD landslide was marred by fraud and was “unfair”. After its proxy party cried foul over the Nov. 8 election, the military claimed to have found more than 7.6 million voter-list irregularities, leading to potential voter fraud, after scrutinizing 314 township lists.
Calling the situation a “political dilemma” in which the military, its proxy party and a few allied parties alleged election fraud, the military declared in a statement on Wednesday that, “the government, UEC or parliament should find a way to overcome the political dilemma in the interests of the state and the people”.
“In the presence of vote-rigging, the will of the people cannot be reflected”, the military stated.
“If the election can be proved free, fair and transparent, it will reflect the true wishes of the people and the Tatmadaw [military] and certain political parties will accept the results,” it continued.
It also defended its role in the election as taking responsibility for holding voting peacefully and successfully, without any disturbances, because establishing a true democracy is its aspiration.
NLD spokesman Dr. Myo Nyunt said the military’s claims of voter fraud based on voter list-irregularities were unfounded.
“Now they are asking for a solution based on their allegations. If they could tell who committed what offense at which place, instead of saying fraud could have happened, action can take place,” he added.
You may also like these stories:
Timeline: Tracing Military’s Interference in Myanmar Election
Myanmar Military Condemns Speaker’s Refusal to Probe Election Fraud Claims
Speaker Rejects Myanmar Military, Proxy Party’s Call for Special Parliament Session
