MANDALAY (UCAN): “I do urge you to give a vote no matter how long you have to wait or tiredness as you need to give your time on this special day for the country,” Archbishop Marco Tin Win of Mandalay, said during Sunday Mass on November 8, the day millions of people headed to the polls to cast their ballots in Myanmar’s general election. The party of state counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi, is tipped to win a second term.
By 5.00am, people wearing masks and face shields were standing in before a polling station in Mandalay waiting for it to open at 6.00am.
called on Catholics not to fail to cast their ballots as it is an important day for the country.
The Archbishop Win prayed that the election would lead to durable peace and development based on justice.
Charles Cardinal Bo of Yangon had previously urged people to fulfill a sacred duty to vote and to choose candidates who work for peace, political and economic federalism.
More than 37 million out of Myanmar’s 54 million people were eligible to vote including five million first-time voters in an election where more than 90 parties are vying for 1,171 seats in the upper and lower houses of the national parliament, and in state and regional legislatures.
Observers see the election as a test of Myanmar’s democratic reforms as the country is in a transition to democracy after emerging from five decades of military rule.
Suu Kyi, whom most people in Myanmar call “Mother Suu,” remains popular among the country’s seven regions where the majority Bamar are based and her National League for Democracy (NLD) is expected to win again after its 2015 triumph.
However, her popularity has waned in minority ethnic areas including the Christian stronghold of Kachin state as the NLD-led government failed to live to its 2015 election campaign promises about peace, rule of law and amending the military-drafted constitution.
Fighting between Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army remains intense in Rakhine and neighbouring Chin state.
United Nations secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, expressed concern that armed conflict was “continuing to take a heavy toll on vulnerable civilians.”
“The vote would help advance inclusive sustainable development across the country,” Guterres said on November 6.
He called for a peaceful orderly and credible election process as it might lead to the safe and dignified return of refugees.
Suu Kyi’s government and the military have faced legal pressure over atrocities against Rohingya Muslims following the crackdown that led to more than 700,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh where they remain in squalid camps.
International rights groups said the election is flawed and a sham as millions of people were disenfranchised, including Rohingya and Rakhine, and there was a lack of consultation over the cancellation of polls in Rakhine, Kachin, Karen, Shan and Bago regions.
