SNLD accusation of USDP vote rigging reaches Naypyidaw
A complaint of voter fraud and electoral law
violations filed by the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) in Namzang
Township against the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) reached the national
Union Election Commission (UEC) on Tuesday, according to local SNLD representatives.
Sai Zaw Win, the SNLD candidate who competed for a
Pyithu Hluttaw seat in Namzang Township, filed the complaint against U Thi Lon of
the ruling USDP in November. He alleged that U Thi Lon won the Lower House seat
in the November 8 general election through vote rigging. He also accused U Thi
Lon of using funds from the parliamentary budget toward his own re-election
campaign.
“He used 100 million kyats from the parliamentary
budget for development projects in Mak Moong Mon village and Koong Sar village,
where he built roads, bridges and set up electricity for the villagers,” Sai
Zaw Win told SHAN on Wednesday. “He told the villagers to vote for him because
he had helped them.”
“We have the all evidence for this case,” he added. Sai
Zaw Win is now required to appear before the UEC in Naypyidaw on January
12.
The complaint, which was reported by Eleven
Myanmar on November 23 of last year, was filed by SNLD
candidates in Namzang, Mong Ping and Kutkai Townships due to a suspicious
number of advanced votes that appeared in support of the USDP, allowing their
candidates to take the lead.
Sai Zaw Win hopes the advanced votes will be declared
invalid. He claimed that were it not for the alleged USDP violations of
electoral law, he would have won the seat for which he was contesting.
Four parties competed in Namzang Township in the November
election, including the National League for Democracy (NLD), the Shan
Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), the Shan Nationalities League for
Democracy (SNLD) and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). According
the UEC, the USDP won three seats in Namzang Township and the SNLD won one.
Voting irregularities in Namzang Township were
documented as early as Election Day, when both SNDP and SNLD candidates told
SHAN that thousands of eligible voters had been
disqualified, and others were allegedly allowed to vote despite discrepancies
regarding their identities on voter lists.
On November 12, SHAN also reported
that the NLD and SNLD had filed a joint complaint against Dr. Sai Mauk Kham, Burma’s current Vice President, citing accusations of
vote rigging in his parliamentary re-election in Lashio Township.
By SAI AW / Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N)
Tags: News, Politics
