Overview

In numbers:

  • Parties: 37
  • Candidates: 3153
  • Independent candidates: 82
  • Constituencies: 1158
  • Constituencies w/one candidate: 54
  • Polling stations: c.40,000
  • Parliaments: 3
  • Seats: 1158
  • % military seats: 25
  • % needed for constitutional change: 75
  • Eligible voters: 29 million
  • Voting age: 18
  • Population: 52.4 million

Date: 7 November 2010

Burma’s elections will be held on 7 November 2010, the first time the military-ruled country has gone to the polls in 20 years. Altogether 37 parties will be competing for seats in three parliaments – the Peoples Parliament, the Regions and States Parliament and the Nationalities Parliament.

The parties are a mixture of pro-junta, opposition, ethnic, and ‘third force’ – outwardly allied to neither the junta nor the opposition. In terms of candidate numbers, the two strongest parties are the National Unity Party (NUP) and Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), who are each fielding around 1000 candidates. They are also known to be close to the ruling junta. On the flipside, some of the smaller parties, such as the Union Democracy Party (UDP), can field only three – election laws demand that each candidate pays a fee of 500,000 kyat (US$500), which is beyond the reach of many of the smaller parties.

So the prospect of a pro-junta party winning the elections is high, while laws and conditions surrounding registration and campaigning appear to impede smaller parties and opposition parties. Moreover, a quarter of parliamentary seats have already been awarded to the military, while numbers of powerful junta officials have switched to civilian uniforms and joined the USDP, significantly strengthening its chances. Many of these regulations that spawned the new laws are found in the 2008 constitution, which was rushed through in the weeks following cyclone Nargis in May 2008.

Arguably the most potent opposition party is the National Democratic Force (NDF) which evolved from the disbanded National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi. It will field 163 candidates. The NDF’s thrust into the limelight came after the NLD, whose landslide victory in the 1990 elections was ignored by the junta, decided to boycott the elections, citing laws that ban Suu Kyi from participating.

It is too early to predict how or whether the political landscape will change after the polls. Some observers see it as a positive step, and believe that the introduction of the Regions and States Parliament, for example, will give greater voice to ethnic minorities in Burma. Others claim however that any apparent change is purely cosmetic, and the same people will be pulling the strings after the polls.