Shan dress banned from polling stations

Namtu , 07.11.10

Shan dress banned from polling stations

By DVB

(Video shows the outside of a polling station in Shan state's Lashio town)

Political party representatives manning ballot stations in Shan state have been banned from sporting traditional Shan dress.

The ban was ordered in Namtu township by the local Township Peace and Development Council chairman, according to locals there.

Another directive has been ordered that male ballot station representatives only wear and white shirt and longyi and females a white jacket and green longyi, the colours of the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

A similar directive was issued in Kyaukme township in Shan state. Sai Saung Si, deputy chairman of the Shan Nationalities Development Party, who is running for a seat in the People’s Parliament, said however that all party members have the right to wear Shan dress and will continue to do so.