DIPD supports parties to prepare for by-elections
DIPD supports parties to prepare for by-elections
by DIPD on January 23, 2017
Myanmar’s first by-elections since the 2015 general elections will take place on 1 April. These by-elections, which will involve over 2 million voters, represent an important test of Myanmar’s democratic processes under its new government.
To support parties’ participation in the by-elections, DIPD, together with its partner International IDEA, sponsored a training session on 19 January for 70 candidates from the 17 parties (+ independents) who will contest the 19 national and state/regional parliamentary seats up for elections.
In cooperation with the Union Election Commission, DIPD and IDEA led discussion sessions on campaign finance reporting, the political party code of conduct and ethical campaigning, election dispute resolution, and preventing hate speech and violence during campaigning. DIPD also provided sessions for dialogue with the UEC on contentious topics including monitoring campaign finance expenditure, the transparency of the campaign and electoral process, the role of the military in the electoral process, and the challenges of the voter list update and advanced voting process. Through the interaction, the UEC gained insight into the prominent concerns of political parties, and was able to indicate reforms they have made, how to manage likely challenges, and how to communicate with the UEC in case of any concerns arising. For example, the UEC Director General noted the increased opportunities for observing the advanced voting process. The DG also mentioned steps that the UEC is taking to ensure better information flow between the Union level and its sub-commissioners at the state and regional levels. Parties appreciated the valuable opportunity to raise their concerns to the Commission and the steps that the UEC is taking for continued improvement of the electoral process. DIPD will be providing support to parties throughout the by-elections process to support democratic and accountable campaigning, effective party monitoring of electoral processes, and ethical campaigning.
In closing remarks, U Tin Tun, the Director General of the Union Election Commission highlighted: “In a country like Pakistan where security is tight due to bombings and shooting over the campaign, the polling stations were largely peaceful as voting began and parties showed respect to each other as competitors and not enemies…it is an experience I like best.”
Campaign training for candidates to 2017 by-elections was made happen with the generous support of the European Union through the project entitled “Strengthening Governance in Myanmar/Burma – Electoral Processes Support”, DIPD will continue to support dialogue and technical assistance sessions for political parties to organize their campaigns. As part of this initiative, DIPD will hold dialogue and consultation session between parties and election commission in each target state/region, trainings for candidates, and polling agent trainings to parties next month.
More information
Contact DIPD Myanmar Country Coordinator, Khin Thazin Myint: ktzm@dipd.dk
Contact DIPD Senior Advisor, Hanne Lund Madsen: hlm@dipd.dk
From: Myanmar, News and updates