Myanmar election to go ahead despite flood damage

By Joshua Carroll

YANGON, Myanmar

Myanmar officials have confirmed a historic general election will go ahead on Nov. 8 as planned, just hours after raising the possibility of postponing the poll due to lasting damage caused by nationwide floods.

The Union Election Commission (UEC) held a meeting with the 10 biggest parties in capital Nay Pyi Taw on Tuesday morning to ask their views on delaying the polling date.

The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) was against the idea, while the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and most others were in favor.

The election commission promptly quashed speculation about the delay with a statement broadcast on state media.

"There will be no delay," the commission said, according to a report in the state-backed Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper Wednesday.

"The UEC reviewed the opinions put forth by a number of political parties and has decided to go ahead with the election on 8 November," the commission added.

Widespread flooding devastated large parts of Myanmar in August, killing over 100 and displacing more than a million.

The UEC had said that some areas still reeling from the disaster may not be ready to go to the polls in time, but Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD argued that the obstacles could be overcome.

November’s poll is expected to be the freest in decades despite mounting doubts about problems with voter lists, the disenfranchisement of many Rohingya Muslims and the controversial exclusion of many Muslim candidates.

Hundreds of villages in war-torn ethnic areas will also be left out because of security concerns, the UEC said earlier this week.

The poll will nonetheless be seen as a test of Myanmar’s move from decades of military dictatorship towards a freer and more democratic society.

The last time the NLD contested a poll was in 1990, when it won a large proportion of seats but was barred from coming to power by the junta.