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Myanmar's Kokang region allowed to hold general election: official

Xinhua, July 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

Fighting-hit Kokang region in northeastern Shan State is allowed to hold general election set for November 8 in Myanmar, according to U Tin Aye, Chairman of Union Election Commission on Wednesday.

U Tin Aye told a press conference on 2015 General Election held here, the commission is compiling the voters list in Kokang region where the government has brought the situation under its control after heavy clashes between Myanmar government forces and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) on February 9.

U Tin Aye stressed that it is necessary to have selected representatives who can serve for the interests of the region.

However, it is not clear whether the election will go ahead in Wa regions in northern Shan State, he said, adding that the commission will try its best to carry out the election in ethnic regions as much as possible.

The vote in some constituencies would be postponed when a free and fair election cannot be held due to natural disaster or local security situation, he said.

Meanwhile, the commission has urged political parties to submit the list of their respective nominated parliamentary candidates in terms of levels of the parliament and constituencies from July 20 to August 8 to compete in the upcoming election and the commission will approve the candidates after scrutiny.

According to the commission, there are 88 registered political parties in Myanmar and each of them is set to compete at least in three constituencies.

The commission has designated a total of 1,171 constituencies across the country for the vote at four levels of parliament representatives with 330 constituencies set for election of the House of Representatives (Lower House), 168 constituencies for the House of Nationalities (Upper House), 644 constituencies for Region or State Parliament and 29 constituencies for Region or State Parliaments for National Races.

The 2015 general election is to produce parliamentary representatives to the next term of the parliament which will choose the president and then a new government will come out in early 2016.

Kokang is the region where heavy fightings erupted between Myanmar government forces and MNDAA on February 9 this year forcing the government to impose a 90-day state of emergency with martial law on February. 17, which was extended to another 90-day imposition from May 18 to August 17. Endi