(Source Image: Niknayman)

BY BRANDON TWICHELL

The military junta of Burma is allowing elections for the first time in 20 years, but these elections are not like they are in the West. Some of the pro-democracy candidates in the election are already calling for fraud and risk being jailed.

We’re looking at perspectives from BBC News, The Guardian, Al-Jazeera, and France 24.

The military junta barred international observers and the press from covering the elections. However, a reporter for BBC News, was able to witness the difficulties of pro-democracy candidates campaigning in the country.

 “They say that campaigning in elections junta-style isn’t easy. They have to fund their own campaigns, they can’t criticize the government, and was it deliberate to have the election campaign coincide with the rainy season? Meetings indoors can only be held in government-approved buildings, which is expensive.”

And a reporter for The Guardian says the junta is saving itself the embarrassment of losing in some parts of the country by employing fraudulent tactics.

"[I]n the parts of Burma where it is sure to lose, the junta has simply cancelled the election. In the huge swaths of territory in the country's east controlled by ethnic minority rebel armies, the junta has said it is too dangerous to cast a ballot."

In 1990, when the last elections were held, democratic parties won the vote. But the military refused to recognize the election, as Al-Jazeera reports.

 “The election outcome will be a far-cry from the last poll 20 years ago, which was won comfortably by the National League for Democracy. But the military didn’t recognize the result, and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been under house arrest for most of the last two decades. The NLD decided not to run this time and has called on people to boycott the vote.”
 
For many people in the poverty-stricken country, the importance of voting is weighed with the importance of eating. France 24 shows how some people are apathetic to voting in this case.

REPORTER: “In Burma, a third of the population lives below the poverty line. Most of them will draw the focus on basic needs, then politics.”
CITIZEN: “If we go to vote, that will take one day, and I’ll lose a day of money. If I vote for them or not, it won’t change anything.”

Initial reports say voter turnout is very low. France 24 says this is because most people in Burma think voting won’t make a difference.