With backing from China, Gen. Than Shwe can talk to the UN yet rule with impunity.
RANGOON, Burma – Voters in the secretive military-ruled nation of Burma cast their first ballots in 20 years on Sunday. But just like Washington, D.C. there are slim hopes for actual "democratic" reform.
Both nations have an electoral system engineered to ensure that control will remain in the hands of the powers-that-be (the military junta in Burma, the military-industrial complex or shadow government in the US) and its political proxies.
While it remained unclear when full results would be announced — officials would only say they would come "in time" — there was little doubt that the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (UDSP) would emerge with an enormous share of the parliamentary seats, despite widespread popular opposition to 48 years of military rule.
State television announced Sunday night that 57 candidates who ran against no opposition had been declared winners of seats in national and regional parliaments. Forty-three are USDP members and the others are allies of the military government. One of the winners is Foreign Minister Nyan Win, the report said.
Earlier, many voters said they simply wanted to cast their votes against the junta's politicians.
"I cannot stay home and do nothing," said Yi Yi, a 45-year-old computer technician in Rangoon, the country's largest city. "I have to go out and vote against USDP. That's how I will defy them (the junta)."
Voting against them, though, may not matter very much.
The junta's proxy party, which is led by a just-retired general and has the government's enormous financial resources at its disposal, is fielding 1,112 candidates for the 1,159 seats in the two-house national parliament and 14 regional parliaments. More>>
- Apathy and fraud charges mar rare Burma election
RANGOON (Reuters) – Burma held its first election in 20 years on Sunday under tight security, a scripted vote that assures army-backed parties an easy win but brings a hint of parliamentary politics to one of Asia's most oppressed states.
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