Election officials have banned an Arakan National Party (ANP) lawmaker from defending his seat in November over allegations that his son deserted his post as a Tatmadaw major and became involved with the Arakan Army (AA).
Phoe San said the Union Election Commission (UEC) told him in an August 22 letter that he was barred under section 10a of the Election Law, which says people with links to unlawful groups or terrorist organisations cannot run to be MPs.
The AA was officially designated a terrorist organisation in March.
Phoe San, who represents Kyaukphyu in the Rakhine state parliament, said he has had no recent contact with his son and that he only learned of his alleged involvement with the AA from the commission’s letter.
He has written back to the commission to protest the decision, but the regional branch keeps telling him to complain to the national branch and vice versa, he said.
“This lack of responsibility and this back and forth feels like an insult to me and to our Rakhine people,” he added.
The military-controlled Ministry of Home Affairs told the commission Phoe San’s candidacy infringed the law and ordered them to proceed as necessary, said Htay Aung Khaing, secretary of the UEC’s Kyaukphyu branch.
“Our office can’t investigate a case like [this]. The immigration office and home affairs ministry found this information after tracing his family history,” he said.
The commission’s letter to Phoe San said his son, Major Aung Myint Soe, disappeared from his military station in Meiktila township, Mandalay region, in May.
When the home affairs ministry investigated, they found he had been working for the AA, the letter said, without giving further details.
Aye Nu Sein, an ANP spokesperson, said: “Dismissing an official candidate and a member of parliament for ‘infringing’ this law is not legitimate. It’s a punishment based on assumptions.”
Myanmar Now is unable to legally approach the AA for comment because of its status as a terrorist group.
