Burma Invites US, EU, UN Election Observers

Jakarta Globe, March 21, 2012

A boy holds the National League for Democracy party flags during
 opposition leader leader Aung San Suu Kyi's election campaign in
Theinni township on Sunday. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)  

          

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Yangon, Burma. Burma has invited election observers from the United States, the European Union and the United Nations for its closely watched by-elections next month, a government official said on Wednesday.

They would join about two dozen poll observers being sent by fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

“It will be like a joint team with ASEAN, the EU, the US and the UN,” the Burmese official, who did not want to be named, told AFP.

“It will be up to the countries whether they send people from overseas or inside Myanmar,” he said, without specifying how many observers would be allowed for the April 1 polls.

The vote, which will see Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi stand for a seat in parliament for the first time, are viewed as a key test of the government’s reform credentials a year after the end of outright military rule.

The US embassy in Yangon welcomed the move to allow international scrutiny of the polls.

“This is encouraging to see that they have taken this step. Clearly we feel the elections are important for this country’s reform process,” said embassy spokesman Mike Quinlan.

But he said reports of irregularities in the voting process and cases of alleged intimidation also needed to be addressed.

“Having observers is one step, but to to have a free and fair election there really should be no violence and intimidation as well,” he said.

A 2010 election which swept the army’s political allies to power was marred by widespread complaints of cheating and intimidation.

Foreign election observers and international media were not allowed into the country for that vote, which was denounced by Suu Kyi’s opposition party and Western powers as lacking legitimacy.

Agence France-Presse