Kokang rebels support election plans
By Ye Mon | Friday, 24 July 2015
Ethnic Chinese rebels fighting in Kokang yesterday expressed support for plans for the border region of northern Shan State to hold parliamentary elections in November with the rest of Myanmar.
U Tun Myat Lin, spokesperson for the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), said their forces would not impede the election and he called on the Tatmadaw to halt their offensives over the election period.
“The Tatmadaw are still fighting our troops. I think the election depends on the Tatmadaw. If they make a ceasefire, the election will be held in Kokang region. We want the election,” he said.
The MNDAA was responding to Union Election Commission chair U Tin Aye, who told a Yangon press conference on July 22 that elections would be held in the region, which is currently under martial law, and that election staff would start work on electoral registers.
Under intense pressure from the Tatmadaw and mostly hemmed against the border with China, the MNDAA declared a unilateral ceasefire on June 11 which government forces ignored. However, much of the region – known for sugar cane, narcotics and gambling – is reported to be relatively stable after nearly six months of conflict.
The UN World Food Programme reported yesterday that about 70 percent of the area’s 90,000 residents had returned. It said an estimated 20,000 refugees were still sheltering in China.
U Tin Aye said he was concerned whether candidates would want to contest the elections, but added that the region needed MPs for its development.
However, a previous conflict in 2009 which forced the MNDAA out of local government and into exile did not prevent the election of pro-government candidates the next year.
U Tun Naing, chair of the Kokang Democracy and Unity Party, which failed to win a seat in 2010, said they would not contest the elections because too many people had fled. But he said they would field candidates in other areas of northern Shan State, including Lashio and Kunlong.
“We have no plan to contest in this region. I think the [ruling] USDP will contest the Kokang region. Other parties will not contest it,” he said.
Local government officials last month expressed their doubts that elections could be held in Kokang. But the decision to go ahead or not rests with the UEC.
U Kyaw Swe, the administrator of Kokang, told The Myanmar Times yesterday that they were preparing for the election with the UEC and that residents wanted the vote to go ahead. He said he believed that fighting would stop for the elections.
Kokang returns two MPs to the lower house, one to the upper house and four to the Shan State parliament. 作者: 龙哥哥 时间: 2015-7-24 18:51
这是哪跟哪的呀。作者: shishucai 时间: 2015-7-24 21:24
这完全看不懂作者: 加油加油 时间: 2015-7-25 06:07
佤邦不进行大选的表述，比同盟军的表述准确一些。我参加不了，没身份证。别的不多说，支持不支持都一样，仗还要打下去。 作者: 南国游子 时间: 2015-7-25 15:33
支持是支持的事，打战是打战的一会事。作者: 过客 时间: 2015-7-25 16:49
若是老缅能遵守协议而停火，那就一切好说，反之就是边签边打了，他那边让民地武签协议，这边继续增兵攻打作者: 南国游子 时间: 2015-7-25 16:53
