Muslim
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Myanmar
Will there be any Muslim MPs in Myanmar’s Parliament?
On Nov. 8, Myanmar will go to the polls in what has been billed as the first free and fair parliamentary election in 25 years, yet the marginalisation of the Muslim community has left local and international observers concerned about how democratic the vote will be. Of the more than 6,000 candidates running in the elections, the overwhelming majority of them are Buddhist, and only 28 are Muslim, representing just 0.5 percent of candidates, according to the final list of candidates released by the Union Election Commission (UEC). Muslims make up about 5 percent of the country’s predominantly Buddhist population. The UEC has rejected more than a hundred would-be candidates, mostly Muslims, stating that their parents were not recognised as citizens yet at the time. . . Subscribe for full access to Get unlimited access to high-quality reporting from the frontlines and support independent journalism. Subscribe Now Already a subscriber? Log in
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