The military released a statement on Thursday insisting that it was within its rights to request election data, in the latest volley of its ongoing effort to challenge the Union Election Commission (UEC) over its handling of last month’s election.
Citing principles of natural law and Latin legal maxims, the five-page statement rejected the UEC’s position, stated three days earlier, that it would be unlawful to comply with the request.
It said that the request was in accordance with citizens’ right to vote and protest and that the UEC should act to eliminate any suspicions by being fair and transparent.
On December 7, the UEC said that the military had been requesting the election data under the Evidence Act in order to file an objection on behalf of military voters in a number of constituencies.
In response, the UEC stated that according to election laws, the “election tribunal should apply provisions of the Evidence Act only when inspections are made on electoral complaints.”
However, the military said in its statement that this undermined the intent of the laws, which do not include the word “only” in their original phrasing. Therefore, it argued, the request “would not have entailed issuing an illegal instruction, regardless of the UEC’s stance.”
The exchange of legal opinions was only the latest evidence of tensions between the military and the UEC over the November 8 election, which the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) won in a landslide.
In the week before the election, the armed forces commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, was rebuked for warning the UEC that it needed to be “careful” to ensure that the election was free and fair.
Then, after losing to the NLD, the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) called for a new election to be held under military supervision—a proposal the UEC called “delusional.”
Gyi Myint, a lawyer who has been following the ongoing dispute, said that the military should respect the constitution and election laws, which are, he noted, a legacy of military rule.
According to election laws, the UEC’s decision is final, and any issues with the accuracy of voter lists or election results should be addressed in accordance with the relevant legal provisions, he said.
While it was not clear what the military intended to do with the data it requested, Gyi Myint suggested that its broader goal was to weaken the authority of the UEC.
“This seems like a direct attack on the UEC,” he said.
