Tatmadaw Declares It ‘Too Early to Tell’ Whether Election Was Free and Fair
By NETWORK MEDIA GROUP (NMG)
Monday, November 30, 2020
The chairperson of the Tatmadaw’s Information Team said on Friday that it is too soon to say whether Burma’s November 8 general election, in which the National League for Democracy won a majority of seats, was “free and fair.”
“We should determine whether the election was free and fair after the conclusion of the legal process,” Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun, chair of the military’s information team, told media outlets in a press conference on November 27, adding that, “Political parties have a responsibility to say whether the election was free and fair.”
He added that the Tatmadaw was not a political party and would “not act like an opposition party” in Parliament, where it holds 25 percent of the seats, as is dictated in the military-drafted 2008 Constitution.
The military spokesperson said that Burmese soldiers cast ballots in more than 200 polling stations across country, and that the military is investigating polling station practices on election day.
If the Tatmadaw has issues to highlight, the Tatmadaw will speak about the results of the investigation when the time is right, the chairman added.
On November 15, the Union Election Commission the NLD’s electoral victory.
The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has complained that the election was flawed and has requested that the UEC and military re-do the process.
To this end, the USDP and its allies have an open letter to President Win Myint describing points of concern around the election; supporters of the party have demonstrated against the UEC.
