Elections

Myanmar’s military junta is holding talks with three ethnic rebel groups on staging elections in areas they control, a rebel spokesman said on Friday, as the military prepares for polls the United States has said will be a “sham.” The country has about 20 ethnic rebel ...

Authoritarianism in Laos is at the root of illegal land grabs, land grievances, and ongoing human rights violations. The upcoming elections in Laos are unlikely to change this. International business stakeholders, however, can do more to support local communities and uphold fundamental human rights. The Lao ...

As Myanmar’s dark era of junta rule began winding down in 2011 with the bold reforms initiated by the quiet ex-general, President Thein Sein, other events happening across Southeast Asia gave reformists hope this was not an isolated instance of democratic progress.   That year, Yingluck Shinawatra ...

Ahead of elections in Myanmar on 8 November, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has stated his hope that the vote would help advance “inclusive sustainable development” across the country. Calling for a “peaceful orderly and credible” election process in a statement issued by his spokesperson, Mr. Guterres also expressed his hope that ...

Despite Myanmar’s growing coronavirus caseload and continuing unrest in some areas, early voting began Thursday for the November 8 general election, which involves nearly 100 political parties and contests for the upper and lower houses of the national, state and regional governments. Early voters include citizens ...

Myanmar’s electoral process is undermined by systemic problems and rights abuses that will deprive people of their right to fairly elect their government, Human Rights Watch said today. Parliamentary, state, and local elections are scheduled for November 8, 2020. The national elections will be Myanmar’s first since ...

With the general election only weeks away – notwithstanding the potential impact of the second wave of COVID-19 – political parties are flooding social media with pledges and promises to woo voters. For the National League for Democracy, the November 8 election poses a new challenge: ...

Myanmar’s ruling National League for Democracy party will almost certainly dominate the country’s November 8 general elections but could lose the majority it has and needs in parliament to keep governing alone after a bruising first term, analysts say.    New and old insurgencies, disenfranchised Rohingya and ...

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi launched her re-election bid on Tuesday ahead of polls set for November, vowing victory at a scaled-down ceremony in the capital after her original plans were scuppered by a surge in coronavirus cases. “Today, our victory campaign has begun,” she ...

On November 8, the people of Myanmar will go to the polls to select their representatives in both houses of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, Myanmar’s national legislature, as well as in state and region assemblies. With over 7,000 candidate applications from more than 90 political parties, ...