Myanmar’s military regime said Monday it had arrested another nine people under its Election Protection Law for allegedly trying to disrupt the upcoming vote, bringing to 12 the number of people detained under the draconian law in less than a month.
Not even children have been spared the crackdown under the law ahead of the election, whose first phase is scheduled for Dec. 28. According to Monday’s announcement, five male residents of Loikaw, the capital of Karenni State, were arrested—two 18-year-olds and three minors, the youngest of whom is just 14.
Loikaw police detained the five on Sept. 14 under Section 23 (a) of the Election Protection Law for allegedly inciting others to disrupt the poll. The section calls for a prison term of three to seven years for anyone found guilty of making speeches, mobilizing the public, staging protests or disseminating written materials that “disrupt the election process or a part of it”.
The same law was cited in the arrests of four men aged 25 to 36 from Yangon’s Shwepyithar on Sept. 16. Township police alleged they were mobilizing the public to interfere with the election.
The regime promulgated the law, whose full name is the Law on the Protection of Multiparty Democratic General Elections from Obstruction, Disruption and Destruction, on July 20. It imposes a range of penalties, including lifetime imprisonment—and even death in cases where an offense against the election results in a fatality.
“Myanmar has seen many elections in the past, but never before has a law been needed to impose order or enforce such severe punishments to secure one,” U Myo Kyaw, leader of the Arakan League for Democracy, told The Irrawaddy.
He said the regime is arresting and persecuting election critics under the law to instill fear among the public, deter further criticism and secure its election plan.
The junta announced on Sept. 9 that a man from Taunggyi, Shan State had been jailed for seven years for criticizing the election on social media, becoming the first to be sentenced under the edict. Last week, two young men in Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar were detained for allegedly posting stickers conveying anti-election messages in a public space.
In the run-up to the poll, the regime has enacted a number of repressive laws, including a cybersecurity law, designed to restrict individual rights and freedom of expression, and create an environment of fear.
“I am actually not interested in the junta’s election. But I dare not share it [his views and remarks on the junta’s elections] with others and online,” a Yangon resident told The Irrawaddy.
