"Political parties in Myanmar have urged the Union Election Commission to consult them on whether to postpone the country’s 2020 general election due to the coronavirus pandemic, party officials said Tuesday. Their call came after election commissioner Myint Naing told state-run radio that the commission would hold the election this year as planned, according to a post on the commission’s Facebook page on Monday. The UEC is responsible for organizing and overseeing elections, and vetting parliamentary candidates and political parties in Myanmar. The exact date of the election has yet to be announced, but the commission has said the 2020 vote will be held in November, as it was in 2010 and 2015, despite concerns by the political parties that Myanmar should focus first on controlling the spread of the virus. UEC members have de-emphasized concerns that the COVID-9 pandemic could force the rescheduling of the vote and have noted that South Korea managed to hold a general election in April amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Others argue that Myanmar is not as developed as South Korea and does not have the same resources to control the spread of the virus. As of Tuesday, Myanmar reported 161 confirmed cases of the virus and six deaths. “In this period of the coronavirus pandemic, all political parties and other concerned organizations should decide whether the general elections should be held instead of the Union Election Commission deciding on its own,” said Ye Naing Aung, general secretary of the Peoples’ Party..."