Guarded optimism in Myanmar on poll eve

Elections may be flawed, but some citizens are hopeful of change

“Every citizen who values democracy and wants democratic rule must cast their votes without fail,” says a daily exhortation running in the state news media that urges voters to choose “candidates correctly.”

The national elections to be held here on Sunday are the first since an effort to form a Parliament 20 years ago was aborted by the military because it lost in a landslide. Judging from the junta’s enthusiasm, the generals appear confident that this time they will come out on top.

Many citizens of Myanmar, formerly Burma, both inside and outside the country dismiss the elections as a sham, an empty exercise in legitimising the continued rule of the military, which will appoint a quarter of the members of the Parliament. There have been no campaign debates, the government has barred outside election monitors, the news media are heavily censored and parties must obtain permission to hold election rallies weeks in advance.

Even the country’s links to the Internet have been disrupted, with the low-capacity portals periodically overwhelmed with a flood of data that makes communications impossible. While the culprit could not be immediately identified, suspicion focused on the government, which has barred Western journalists from covering the elections and generally seals off Myanmar from contacts with the outside world. But many here have a more optimistic take. Accustomed to repression, they measure hope and progress with a lower threshold, and some see in the elections the seeds of a less hierarchical and authoritarian system.

“In the future we expect to have more of a voice,” said Yuza Maw Htoon, one of 82 independent candidates running for a parliamentary seat. She has spent recent weeks roaming the streets of her constituency in Yangon, formerly Rangoon, with a megaphone, handing out pamphlets — an activity that only a few months ago might have resulted in arrest. She said in an interview that she saw the veil of fear being partly lifted.
“People seemed scared to receive pamphlets when we first went out,” she said. “Now they are asking for them.”

Here is what change might look like in Myanmar: In the new political system the government’s budget, which is now treated as a state secret, would be introduced in Parliament and would possibly be debated. The economy, which until now has been almost totally controlled by the military, might be partly liberalised, allowing Myanmar to follow the path of countries like Vietnam or China, where political freedom remains scarce but businesses flourish and incomes rise.

More than 3,100 candidates are vying to fill about 1,150 seats in the elections, with a majority of candidates from two military-backed parties. The main opposition party, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate whose victory two decades ago was nullified by the military, is boycotting the elections.