As the general election draws closer, a major issue has proved to be who can and cannot run. This week, the Rakhine State sub-commission of the Union Election Commission disqualified five Muslim candidates. “They were rejected mainly because their parents and grandparents were not yet citizens when they were born,” Rakhine election sub-commission secretary U Thurein Htut told the Irrawaddy. Four of the candidates self-identify as Rohingya Muslims and are members of the Democracy and Human Rights Party, which only has three approved candidates left, the Irrawaddy continued. Outraged party secretary U Kyaw Soe Aung said the move was unprecedented as the candidates had been allowed to run in 2015. He claimed their rejection showed that the NLD government held the same anti-Muslim prejudices as the former Thein Sein administration.
However, State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi faced her own eligibility questions when her rival candidate petitioned the Yangon Southern District Election Commission to disqualify her for allegedly using government funds to finance her own campaign, the Myanmar Times reported. The petition, filed by U Htay Aung, who is contesting the state counsellor’s seat in the Lower House (Pyithu Hluttaw), was rejected this week. However, the candidate said he would appeal to higher authorities, all the way up to the Union Election Commission if necessary, the report continued.
Questions of who will and won’t participate in the democratic process have played a central role in democratic Myanmar since the first election in 2010, which the NLD party boycotted over a clause in the constitution that barred Aung San Suu Kyi from holding the office of president. Since then, petitions such as the one leveled by Htay Aung are not uncommon, as election laws allow any Lower House candidate to challenge an opponent’s eligibility. On the voter side, the Union Election Commission continues to struggle with if, and how, to conduct polling in ethnic-controlled areas. As for the Rakhine Muslims, who call themselves Rohingya: although the group has not been granted citizenship, in 2015 the Thein Sein administration attempted to allow them limited voting privileges. The move was overturned following widespread, Buddhist-led protests.
