Four political parties dissolved by Union Election Commission
The regime’s Union Election Commission (UEC) announced on Tuesday that it had deregistered four political parties for failing to meet its criteria by the Sept. 7 deadline. The National Democratic Force (NDF) was disbanded for not having enough members. The Democratic Party of National Politics (DNP), the Women’s Party (Mon), and the Union Farmer-Labour Force Party, were dissolved for not having a required number of offices.
Aung Ko Ko, the NDF secretary, told DVB that the UEC did not allow time for his party to appeal the ruling. He claimed that the NDF has 117 offices and 75,000 members nationwide. The NDF, the DNP, and the Women’s Party (Mon), are among nine parties set to contest the elections nationwide alongside the pro-regime Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which governed the country from 2011-16.
The regime scheduled the first phase of the general elections for Dec. 28 in 102 out of Burma’s 330 townships. A total of 61 parties have registered with the UEC. The National Unity Government (NUG) and resistance forces, including the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Arakan Army (AA), have rejected any elections held under the regime that seized power during the 2021 coup.
Investigation into Myanmar military ‘chain of command’
Nicholas Koumjian, the head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), said on Monday at the U.N. that the regime is “increasingly” relying on aerial attacks to target civilian populations, or any group that opposes military rule. He added that the IIMM is collecting evidence about the military’s “chain of command” to expose who is giving the orders to carry out indiscriminate airstrikes.
“We have intensified our investigations into air strikes that hit homes, hospitals, places of worship, internally displaced person camps and schools with no apparent military target in the vicinity,” said Nicholas Koumjian to the U.N. on Sept. 8. He added that crimes have also been committed by various armed groups, who have carried out extrajudicial killings of alleged military informers since the coup on Feb. 1, 2021.
The IIMM is also investigating alleged crimes committed by the Arakan Army (AA) against the Rohingya in Arakan State. Koumjian drew attention to the 150,000 Rohingya who have fled attacks into Bangladesh over the last year, but highlighted that all ethnic communities have now been threatened with starvation due to a ban on humanitarian aid deliveries. The IIMM was established in 2018 to investigate violations of international law.
A man identified by police as Nay Thway was sentenced to seven years in prison after being convicted of violating the new General Election Protection Law by a regime-controlled court in Taunggyi Township, Shan State, on Sept. 9. (Credit: Regime police)
Taunggyi man sentenced to prison for criticizing elections
Residents of southern Shan State told DVB that the regime-controlled Taunggyi Township court on Tuesday sentenced a man to seven years with hard labour in a hasty conviction under the “General Election Protection Law” due to comments he made on social media regarding the elections scheduled to begin on Dec. 28. He was arrested by police on Aug. 25 – two days after reportedly posting his comments.
“The court delivered the sentence on the first day of [the man’s] trial,” a resident familiar with the case told DVB on the condition of anonymity. The “General Election Protection Law,” enacted on July 29, carries a minimum sentence of three years in prison to a maximum sentence of death, if convicted of disrupting the elections.
The regime Home Affairs Minister Tun Tun Naung stated during a meeting in Naypyidaw on Sept. 5 that three people have been prosecuted under the new “General Election Protection Law” since it was enacted. Shan State has 55 constituencies and the first phase of the elections will be held in 12 of them, according to the UEC.
News by Region
AYEYARWADY—Residents in Payagon village of Ingapu Township told DVB that a military officer carried out an extrajudicial killing by shooting two of his soldiers dead for “unruly behaviour” on Sunday. Ingapu is located 98 miles (158 km) north of the region’s capital Pathein.
A resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity that the two soldiers had been drinking alcohol and firing their weapons at a nearby village. When locals reported the incident to the military officer he reportedly killed them on the spot. Residents buried the two soldiers’ bodies.
MAGWAY—Sources on the frontline in Ngape Township told DVB that the AA seized a regime outpost, which served as a guard post for the Natyaykan Air Defence Base, on Sept. 2. Ngape is located 48 miles (77 km) west of the region’s capital Magway. The AA has not confirmed the seizure of the outpost.
A source close to the AA told DVB that the outpost is located on the road connecting Minbu Township to Ann Township in Arakan State. A resident of Gokkyi village, 15 miles (24 km) east of the Natyaykan base, told DVB that around 500 regime troops had been patrolling the road connecting the village and the base since Sept. 7.
SAGAING—Residents in eastern Wetlet Township told DVB that four civilians, including a child, were killed and at least 13 others were injured in airstrikes carried out by the Burma Air Force on six villages located along the Irrawaddy River on Tuesday. Wetlet is located 50 miles (80 km) east of the region’s capital Monywa.
“The residents tried to flee their homes as 12 military vessels passed,” a Wetlet resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity. Resistance forces told DVB that airstrikes occurred in Wetlet, as well as Thabeikkyin and Singu townships in neighbouring Mandalay Region to protect a naval fleet.
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