Arakan

Parties question UEC impartiality

The Union Election Commission’s (UEC) decision on Tuesday to publicly propose and then drop a plan to delay Burma’s 8 November polls has prompted criticism from major political parties, who questioned the commission’s motives for floating the controversial proposal. Local and international media had widely reported on remarks by UEC chairman Tin Aye on Tuesday morning about a possible nationwide polling delay, which were supposedly necessary because of problems posed by the flood disaster that hit parts of Burma in June and July. Later, the commission said in a statement that it had “reviewed a number of opinions put forward by a number of political parties and decided not to delay the elections and to go ahead with it on 8 November.” Win Htein, a spokesperson of the National League for Democracy (NLD), said he struggled to make sense of Tin Aye’s initial plan and subsequent u-turn. “I welcome the announcement as I was the only one who objected to the proposal for the postponement of the elections,” he said. “But still, I remain confounded by the flip-flopping statements, which are coming out from the elections commission even though it is a top government body.” During a meeting on Tuesday…