Flood Turmoil Pushes Back Election Registration Deadline Skip to main content

Flood Turmoil Pushes Back Election Registration Deadline

By | Monday, August 3, 2015 |
A man steers food relief on a canoe through flood waters in Kawlin Township, Sagaing Division. (Photo: Teza Hlaing / The Irrawaddy)
RANGOON— The Union Election Commission (UEC) will leave candidate applications for the November election open for another week, as large swathes of northern and western Burma continue to be ravaged by flooding.
UEC director Thaung Hlaing told The Irrawaddy on Monday that as a result of the flood crisis, the commission had decided to extend the deadline for candidate submissions from the coming Saturday to Aug. 14.
“We decided to extend the period as wide parts of the country have seen difficulties for transportation and the weather is bad,” he said, adding that some parties had argued that an extension was necessary, as they had been unable to submit candidate lists in affected areas.
Parties and independent candidates are required to lodge application forms with district commission offices. The UEC said on Monday that candidates unable to lodge application forms as a result of transport difficulties could contact the commission for assistance.
The postponement of the nomination deadline has also pushed back the deadline for withdrawal of nominations to Aug. 17, and the commission will now scrutinize candidates from Aug. 18-27.
The Union government on Saturday declared disaster zones in four regions, including Chin and Arakan states and Sagaing and Magwe divisions.
Tin Oo, chairman of the UEC’s Sagaing Division office, said that so far there had not been significant obstacles for election preparations in flood-affected areas. He told The Irrawaddy that his office, which is currently preparing voter lists for public display, has not suffered any loss of data on voter information despite the flooding some UEC offices in the division.
“Some township offices were flooded and couldn’t open, so they moved to other places or to the offices of the district commission,” he said. “I believe all election preparations will be finished in time, as the water level is expected to drop in one week.”
The UEC has legal authority to postpone elections in specific townships in the event of natural disasters or local conflict. Asked whether the UEC would consider delaying polls in flood-affected areas, Thaung Hlaing told The Irrawaddy that the move had not been considered.
“For now, we will only focus on accepting candidate forms,” he said.
A total of 40 parties and 42 independents filed candidate applications with the commission between July 20 and Aug. 1, with a total of 868 candidates submitted for the country’s 1,171 state, divisional and Union seats. Another 49 registered political parties have yet to put forward candidates.
Meanwhile, Shwe Mann took to Facebook on Monday to announce that the coming parliamentary session will be postponed.
The Union Parliament speaker said that lawmakers were busy collaborating with government departments and aid organizations to deliver relief to areas hit by flooding and landslides. The date for the next session of parliament will be announced later.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/flood-turmoil-pushes-back-election-registration-deadline.html
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thai penis whitening trend raises eyebrows

Image copyright LELUXHOSPITAL Image caption Authorities warn the procedure could be quite painful A supposed trend of penis whitening has captivated Thailand in recent days and left it asking if the country's beauty industry is taking things too far. Skin whitening is nothing new in many Asian countries, where darker skin is often associated with outdoor labour, therefore, being poorer. But even so, when a clip of a clinic's latest intriguing procedure was posted online, it quickly went viral. Thailand's health ministry has since issued a warning over the procedure. The BBC Thai service spoke to one patient who had undergone the treatment, who told them: "I wanted to feel more confident in my swimming briefs". The 30-year-old said his first session of several was two months ago, and he had since seen a definite change in the shade. 'What for?' The original Facebook post from the clinic offering the treatment, which uses lasers to break do...
1 comment
Read more

Ancient Rakhine City of Mrauk-U Proposed for UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Irrawaddy YANGON—Myanmar’s Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture submitted the final draft of its nomination for Mrauk-U to become a World Heritage Site to UNESCO on Monday, four months after the ministry submitted the first draft of its nomination in September 2019. If the application succeeds, Mrauk-U will be the third place in Myanmar to be inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, after the ancient cities of Bagan and Pyu. Mrauk-U is located in northern Rakhine State, around 60 km from the state capital of Sittwe. The ancient city was the seat of Arakanese kings from the 1400s until the late 1700s. At the height of their power, they controlled an area covering large parts of eastern Bengal, modern-day Rakhine State and the western part of central Myanmar. Much of the city’s remains are well-preserved and some 380 historic temples are scattered between the lush hills of northern Rakhine. Mrauk-U Heritage Trust chairwoman Daw Khin Than told The Irrawaddy on Tue...
1 comment
Read more

Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera

The Life Story of A Distinguished And Outstanding Bhikkhu The Most Venerable Saradawpharagree Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera The Buddhist missionary Saradaw Ashin U Chandramani was endowed with great gifts and led a famous and long life. He was a very well known, distinguished and outstanding Bhikkhu Mahathera. While living in the Kushinagar Monastery, a place close to where the Lord Buddha had passed away to Nirvana, the Government of India had offered, and he had accepted, the highest, most honourable and respected title "Guru Guru MahaGuru". He became the first ever President of all Buddhists in India.A World Buddhist Conference took place in Kathmandu during the reign of King Mahindra of Nepal. The Conference was very well attended by over one hundred thousand Buddhists from various parts of the world and it was opened by King Mahindra himself. As requested by the King, Saradawpharagree blessed all the participants with the power of Triple Gems...
Post a Comment
Read more