The 2010 General Elections in Burma

See the 7-Step Roadmap at http://www.burmalibrary.org/show.php?cat=2378&lo=d&sl=0 -- especially Step 5
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Websites/Multiple Documents

Description: Archive from 2010
Source/publisher: Various sources via "BurmaNet News"
Date of entry/update: 2012-04-18
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Individual Documents

Sub-title: Just as during the decades-long civil war and recent elections, Myanmar’s ethnic minorities will be pivotal in the post-coup status quo
Description: "The diverse ethnic minorities in Myanmar have a long and often troubled history with the Burmese military that seized power in Myanmar on February 1, 2021, spanning across the bloody civil war, as well as the country’s democratic reforms in the past decade. Ethnic relations and the delicate, changing balances of power between the Bamar majority, the Tatmadaw, the civilian government officials, and amongst themselves have long dictated the reality and prospects of Myanmar’s politics, peace, and prosperity. In this policy paper, Michael Martin, a long-time Myanmar expert, traces the history of ethnic minorities in the 2008 constitution, the three ensuing parliamentary elections, and now the fluid and contentious political environment after the February 1 coup. Martin outlines three potential outcomes for the future of Myanmar, either federal democracy, fragmentation, or military power consolidation—all of whose outcomes intrinsically depend on the complex political and security dynamics of the ethnic minorities dispersed across the country.....About this Series: This paper is part of Stimson’s Civil-Military Relations in Myanmar series, which seeks to analyze the complex relationship between the civilian and military sides of the Burmese government and the implications for the country’s future peace and development. Since the founding of the country, the Burmese military, or Tatmadaw, has held a unique and privileged status across institutions of power. And despite movement toward democracy in the past decade, the relationship between the civilian and military sides remains deeply unsettled. This contest for power and the political, security, and constitutional crises it creates have had far-reaching effects on Myanmar’s political processes, its ongoing civil war, the Rohingya crisis, and regional peace and stability—a reality most recently and poignantly seen in the 2021 coup d’état staged by the Tatmadaw against the civilian government. The series brings together the expertise of leading experts on Myanmar, Southeast Asia, democratization, and policy to uncover the complex dynamics between the two sides. The series provides key insights and recommendations for disentangling the contentious relationship and charting a path forward for relevant stakeholders in Myanmar. More than three months have passed since Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and the Tatmadaw staged their palace coup in Myanmar (Burma), setting up a new military junta entitled the State Administrative Council (SAC). The actions of the nation’s ethnic minorities1 and their associated ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) will be critical if Min Aung Hlaing and the SAC are to be defeated, either by political or military means. The failure to secure the support of the ethnic minorities and their EAOs could either doom the people of Myanmar to many more years of oppressive military rule or lead to the fragmentation of the nation into several smaller sovereign states. To properly appreciate the importance of Myanmar’s ethnic minorities and their EAOs to the nation’s future requires an examination of the country’s political developments since 2010, Min Aung Hlaing’s decision to depose the civilian side of the hybrid civilian-military Union Government, and the role of the ethnic minorities and their EAOs in determining Myanmar’s future. However, in order to understand why the ethnic minorities and the EAOs are so critical to Myanmar’s future, it is necessary to first examine the Tatmadaw’s original plan for the political transition of Myanmar into a “flourishing and disciplined democracy.”2.....The Tatmadaw’s Plan for Myanmar’s Political Transition: On August 30, 2003, Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt announced that Myanmar’s military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), would undertake a “seven-point roadmap for democracy.” 3 The roadmap called for the reconvening of a constitutional convention that was suspended in 1996, the drafting of a new constitution for the nation, the adoption of the constitution in a national referendum, the holding of nationwide parliamentary elections, and the transfer of power from the SPDC to the new government.4..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: The Stimson Center
2021-06-03
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 251.04 KB (18 pages)
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Description: PREFACE: "This is an invaluable document. It provides the only independent view of the 2010 elections, based on the observations of people who were on the ground in many different parts of the country. It also presents a comprehensive analysis of the legal and administrative framework, and a detailed and thoughtful set of recommendations. Given the constraints the team was working under, this is a remarkable achievement. It enables the report to make two important contributions: highlighting the many flaws in the process, while at the same time demonstrating the efforts of parties, candidates, voters and the observers themselves, who sought to overcome the various constraints imposed on them. Free and fair these elections were not, but dismissing them out of hand, as many in the international community have tended to do, is not helpful ? it does a disservice to those opposition parties who made the difficult decision to contest, and to those few of their candidates who managed to win against the odds. These parties and candidates are committed to using the small space they have carved out to push a reform agenda, and those who stand on the side of democracy should give them their encouragement. But more than this, the report provides a reference point, and indeed a model, for future election observation. This is critical if many of the issues identified by the observers are to be addressed. Thus, the biggest contribution of this report will hopefully not be in documenting the past, but in influencing the future. In this regard, if future elections are to have credibility in the eyes of the Myanmar people and the world, it is essential that the Myanmar government allow such observation activities to be freely conducted. For me, two important qualities of this report make it stand out: its rigorous analysis, and its careful balance and objectivity ? characteristics that are unfortunately often lacking in reporting on Myanmar." Richard Horsey
Source/publisher: Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS),
2011-04-11
Date of entry/update: 2016-02-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 2.98 MB
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