Ethnic Palaung releases report' 'ballots which opposes people's will'

Myint Maung
Mizzima News - 03 July 2008

New Delhi – An Ethnic Palaung Youth Working Group on Thursday said the result of a referendum held on May 10, does not reflect the people's true desire as the Burmese junta's has used various means to rigged votes.

The ethnic youth, in a new report titled 'The ballots which oppose the people's will" said it has investigated and found into the vote rigging and irregularities in some townships in Shan State mostly inhabited by Palaung ethnics.

"The polling booth officials forced the voters to cast 'Yes' votes. Before putting it into the ballot boxes, the officials checked the ballot papers which jeopardised the secret ballot system. In some places, the local authorities cast all votes representing the whole village, the report said.

"In some polling stations, they closed before the prescribed closing time. We found many irregularities in our investigation," Mai Aung, the spokesman of 'Palaung Youth Network Group' (PYNG) said.

The referendum investigation working group comprised of the Thai based 'Palaung State Liberation Front' (PSLF), 'Paluang Youth Network Group' (PYNG) and 'Palaung Women's Organization' (PWO).

The working group said it monitored the referendum process mainly in ethnic Palaung inhabited areas in Shan State including Hnamsan, Kyaukme, Lashio, Thibaw, Mai Ngau, Hnamtu, Kutkai, Hnamkham and Muse townships.

The group said they had monitored voting procedures in 57 polling stations in these townships and found misuse of power by the ruling junta in getting the 'Yes' votes by coercion, vote rigging and many other ways.

Authorities had forced voters to cast their votes in advance before the polling date and made it into 'yes' votes, the report said.

The working group said the report is a compilation of all these facts with interviews of the polling station officials, local people and voters along with photographic evidences.

"U Kyaw Yin of the Palaung ceasefire group who lives in Nyeinchanyay Kone, Kyaukme threatened voters that they would be evicted from their homes if 'No' votes were found in the ballot boxes," Mai Aung said.

"Likewise, Capt. Than Htut, who is working in Palaung Tea factory in Hnamsan issued an order saying that he would ban rice import from lower Burma if the number of 'No' votes were high in his area," added Mai Aung.

"The voter turnout rate in Palaung inhabited areas were just about 30 percent. Most of the votes were either voting in advance (absentee votes) or casting representative votes. The voters were ordered to come to the polling stations in their traditional ethnic costumes and to cast 'Yes' votes only. It was just a farce," a member of the working group, who monitored the voting process, said.

Though some voters dared to cast 'No' votes despite heavy pressure exerted on them by the local authorities, all these 'No' votes were turned to 'Yes' votes during the counting process in accordance with the rules and regulations of referendum commissions, the report said.

The working group will send the report to the international community including the UN and ASEAN for awareness regarding the blatant human right violation in Burma and to generate concerted efforts of the international community to resolve the Burma crisis.