NLD appointed - UEC followed IFES, IDEA’s recommendations in 2020 Election
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By Tun Mon Thet (NP News) - Nov 4
The former Union Election Commission (UEC), appointed by the National League for Democracy, followed the recommendations that were proposed by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA); and instructed to move the military polling stations to outside of the military compounds in 2020 Election, according to the investigative report on vote riggings and malpractices in 2020 Election.
The report was prepared and published by the current UEC in 2022. It presents many misconducts and voting frauds that were exercised by the NLD ministers and chiefs in the 2020 Election.
Paragraph number 38, 39, 40, 41 and 44 presented on pages 36, 37 and 38 of the abovementioned report described that the NLD leaders, ministers and officials not only tried to manipulate the military polling stations but also gave the information of military personnel and families to the external foreign organizations.
Paragraph 38 stated that former President U Win Myint instructed the former UEC to amend the laws and bylaws of the respective electoral legal provisions that would favour the NLD to win the election with landslide results. Therefore, the former UEC commenced its duty of amending the electoral laws and bylaws in June 2016, three months after it took the responsibilities of the UEC, to June 2020: just before the 2020 Election.
At that time, leaders of the Tatmadaw consented and agreed to follow the requests demanded by the former UEC since the Tatmadaw leaders did not want to confront with the NLD government, especially in the election period. However, structure, number of personnel, deployments and security concerns of the respective military unit and division in states and regions were disseminated to the foreign entities.
Through the election observation bodies such as the IDEA and the IFES, the detailed personal information of the military servicemen and their families, positions and structures of the military units, divisions and bases located in various territories were already leaked to the embassies.
What is more, the report also stated that the IFES and the IDEA jointly submitted a paper with 353 recommendations in January 2019. The IFES and the IDEA prepared the paper in response to the request made by the former UEC led by the chair U Hla Thein. The paper proposed the recommendations to be amended and added in the electoral laws and bylaws.
In recommendation number 177 of the paper of the IFES and the IDEA, it mentioned “ANFREL 2015: Process of advance voting for military personnel at the designated polling stations, outside the constituency, should be conducted by established standards. Advance voting within military units and divisions should not be permitted.”
In recommendation number 178, "ANFREL 2017: Voting in a controlled environment may contaminate the rights of voters in the aspect of independent voting. Free and fair voting can only be exercised effectively in an environment that is free from control, such as outside of military bases. Therefore, polling stations should not be established within military camps. Alternatively, polling stations could be placed outside the gates of military compounds.”
Again, recommendation number 179 of the paper of the IFES and the IDEA also stated: "Advance voting for military personnel outside designated polling areas—by publicly announcing the dates and locations for advance voting—will enhance transparency. Such announcements will enable media and observers related to the election to fulfill their respective roles effectively."
The current UEC scrutinized those facts as per the meeting minutes of the former UEC appointed by the NLD.
The former UEC led by U Hla Thein announced to establish the polling stations of the military units and divisions outside the military compounds by Order numbers 55/2019, 56/2019, and 57/2019 dated on 3 October 2019.
In addition, former President U Win Myint used his superior authority in ruling the former UEC’s duties. He instructed to amend and add new legal provisions and terms for the advance voting of the military personnel, and establishment of the military polling stations outside the military bases to the former UEC on 2 October 2019, according to the meeting minutes of the former UEC as presented by the investigative report.
By these means, detailed information on Tatmadaw units’ structure, personnel power, family data, and many security facts were leaked and disseminated to the foreign embassies and entities which somehow rooted the today’s chaotic military dilemma. –