Myanmar bars foreign monitors, reporters from poll

Myanmar, Oct 18 — International poll monitors and foreign journalists will be barred from Myanmar’s first election in 20 years, its military rulers said on Monday, deepening concern that next month’s poll will be a sham.

The United States, Britain and Myanmar’s Southeast Asian neighbours had urged the junta to allow independent election monitors at the Nov. 7 election, which critics say will cement the military’s grip on power under the guise of civilian rule.

Members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party wait for guests in front of posters of national hero Burmese general Aung San, father of Myanmar's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, at the party headquarters May 27, 2009, before a ceremony to mark the 19th anniversary of the 1990 general election where the NLD won 392 of 485 parliamentary seats.




“We don’t need foreign observers. We have abundant experience in holding elections,” Thein Soe, chairman of the Union Election Commission, told a news conference in the capital Naypyitaw.

“Besides, the election laws enacted are very balanced and easy to understand.”

The election is the first since 1990, when Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party won in a landslide result that was ignored by the military.

Critics say the ruling generals are tightly controlling campaign activities this time to ensure their proxies win most votes and the assemblies will be dominated by their allies.

The 10-state Association of South East Asian Nations offered in July to send monitors to help ensure the elections would be internationally recognised as free and fair.

“We don’t need to clarify the credibility of these elections to other people,” said Thein Soe.

Foreign journalists are routinely denied official visas to report inside Myanmar, but many news organisations had hoped to send media to cover next month’s poll, which will usher in the first civilian government in 48 years.

“Concerning the journalists, there are resident representatives of the international news agencies in our country, and press statements will be released in a timely manner about the elections. So there is no need to allow foreign reporters to cover the elections,” Thein Soe added.

Thomson Reuters, The Association Press, Agence France-Presse, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, European Pressphoto Agency (EPA) and several Japanese news outlets are allowed to operate with accredited local journalists. Only China’s Xinhua News Agency has permission to employ foreign nationals in the country.