Guest Comments by the Burma Partnership Secretariat

NEAR THE BURMESE BORDER, Thailand -- On March 8, the ruling military junta in Burma began to release its election laws. The first two released -- the Election Commission and Political Party Registration Laws -- make it clear that any elections later this year will be truly undemocratic and conducted exactly as the junta wants.

Political parties have until May 7 to submit registrations to run in the elections. Some parties are preparing to register, including at least three organized by the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), and the pro-junta National Political Alliance, consisting of nine smaller groups.

On March 22, the junta released the People's Parliament Electoral Law, repealing that from 1989 and thereby annulling results of the 1990 elections won by the National League for Democracy (NLD). Recognizing results of the last election was a step to national reconciliation specified by the NLD. The junta's unwillingness to engage in dialogue with the democratically elected NLD and ethnic leaders, together with new unjust election laws, again proves that the military's intentions aren't for genuinely democratic elections.

Tension has mounted along Burma's borders with China and Thailand as the latest deadline for armed ethnic groups to join the junta's Border Guard Force has passed. According to junta sources, the military recently moved up to 70,000 troops into the area. Both China and Thailand expect an influx of new refugees.

The military explicitly told the United Wa State Army "to expect use of force". The Wa commander predicts an 80-per-cent chance of war. The Kachin Independence Organization still wants dialogue, but a general in charge of the Northern Regional Command said he expected a "yes or no" answer.

With the election laws, the junta has a new strategy in hand. Citing "security reasons", the hand-picked Election Commission can decide against holding the elections in areas where armed ethnic groups fail to join the Border Guard Force. By threatening to engage in civil war, the junta destroys an essential condition for democratic elections, namely a long-awaited national reconciliation and the creation of a democratic federal union with guarantees of equal rights for ethnic nationalities.

The international community expresses disappointment about the election laws. Philippines' foreign minister Alberto Romulo says the elections will be "a complete farce and therefore contrary to (the junta's) roadmap to democracy", unless NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi is released from detention and allowed to participate. The United States slams the election laws as a "mockery" of democracy and says its policy of engagement with the junta appears to be failing.

All recent events show the true colors of the junta's election plans. The international community must take a stronger stance by decisively and publicly denouncing the elections and refusing to recognize the results.

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