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Elections Past and Future in Burma

             Burmese people have had tough luck with elections.  Parliamentary elections in Burma have never been free and fair.  When they were free they were not fair.  When they were fair, they were not free.  When elections were relatively free and fair, the people’s votes have not been honoured. 

            In the short-lived democratic period or ‘constitutional period (1948-1962)’, Burma had three elections.  U Nu, the then Prime Minister, in his memoirs, recognized that elections had never been fair during his time.  They had been free because opposition was free to participate in the elections but they had not been fair because candidates from his ruling party had been privileged with government funding, security guards and free use of the government radio station for their campaigns.  U Nu acknowledged his ‘undemocratic way’ and attempted to correct the lopsided electoral system for the 1960 general elections.  In 1958, however, political infighting had weakened his party and split it into two.  He was pressured to resign and hand over the state power to the military government.  In the 1960 general elections held under the Caretaker or military government, Nu’s party contested the military-backed party on the platform of making Buddhism state religion and strengthening democracy.  U Nu won the elections and resumed national leadership but his declaration that he would retire from politics at the end of his term weakened his party further.  The politics of 1958 repeated itself when the military staged a coup in 1962.

            Elections are not just ‘democracy at work’ but they are also used as a tool of legitimating by authoritarian regimes.  In authoritarian states, the process of legitimating of power through elections usually begins when the process of suppression of all forms of formidable dissent is complete.  Burma went through the same pattern.  By the 1970s, the process of silencing all forms of political opposition was almost complete for the Revolutionary Council, which snatched the state power from U Nu’s government in 1962.  The Revolutionary Council later became Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) as military generals changed into civilian attires.  A new constitution, for which a referendum was held, came into effect in January 1974.  The country became Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma and elections for seats in the government were held in the following months.  Voting was popularized through propaganda and pop culture.  Voting meant voting for the BSPP and all the elections were neither free nor fair in the single-party semi-socialist state.

            The BSPP was brought down by a nationwide uprising in 1988.  The military government, claiming that they needed to ‘‘establish law and order to hold elections so that political change can take place,’’ replaced the BSPP in September 1988.  The restoration of law and order was particularly harsh and bloody.  The elections law, nevertheless, was drawn up and elections were scheduled for May 1990.  The Burmese people, who had been longing for political associations and expressions since 1962, reacted to the permission to form political parties with enthusiasm.  All together, 233 parties were registered.  The BSPP was transformed into National Unity Party (NUP) to contend the major opposition party National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi. 

            As early as in 1989, Daw Suu knew that her party could be systematically sabotaged by the military.  She asked her cousin Dr. Sein Win to form an allied party in case the NLD should be proscribed or restricted.  Dr. Sein Win, while remaining a member of NLD, formed his own party National Party for Democracy (NPD).  Historians of Burma tend to think that the elections in 1990 were fair and free.  The military, far from being fair, took every measure to keep the NLD from winning the elections.  The military-backed party NUP was privileged with the BSPP facilities, and local offices for its campaigns.  On the other hand, Daw Suu’s life was threatened on her campaign trips for criticizing the BSPP and its leader U Ne Win, and the performance of his military rule.  She was finally placed under house-arrest a full year before the elections were to be held in May 1990.  The Lady did not have to go out of her house to campaign for her party.  The NLD campaign song, ‘‘Only when Suu wins, will there be prosperity.  Only when Suu wins, will there be progress,’’ resounded throughout the country.  The people who needed a change voted overwhelmingly for the NLD.  The NLD swept 396 out of 485 seats in the National Assembly compared to 10 seats won by the NUP.  The military refused to honour the NLD’s victory and embarked on the project of National Convention to draft a constitution.  The rest is history.

            In Asiaweek 11 June 1999, Aung San Suu Kyi says that she is confident that the NLD will win any future elections as long as they are not rigged.  She doubts that the Burmese junta, having miscalculated badly in 1990, will ever hold free and fair elections in the future.  Sixteen years after the election victory of the NLD, Daw Suu still finds herself under house-arrest and the Burmese mainstream opposition still finds itself in quest for means to engage with the military junta in a dialogue.  On their part, the military has never shown willingness for dialogue.  Instead, they have consolidated their power and created Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) as a mass party with the sole purpose of protecting the military interest and winning in future elections. 

            Unless there is a breakthrough in solving the ongoing political impasse, history will eerily repeat itself.  Just like its predecessor semi-socialist BSPP, the ultra-nationalist USDA will make all opposition irrelevant until it is confident enough to reconvene National Convention to draft a new constitution.  A referendum will be held to approve the constitution which would ensure the role of military in the centre stage of Burma’s politics.  By the time new elections are to be held in accordance with the new constitution, shall we call them free and fair? 

Ko Ko Thett                   

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