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It's April 2, still eight months before Myanmar's first democratic elections since 1990. U Tin Oo, vice-chairman of the National League for Democracy (NLD), is at his home in Yangon where he spent six years under house arrest, released in February. The lights are dim, the decor 1970s and cats roam everywhere. U Tin Oo explains that the NLD will not be contesting the elections.
The NLD voted unanimously not to contest the 2010 elections. However, this solidarity was ephemeral and some members who did not privately agree with the decision soon split away to register new political parties, chief among them being the National Democratic Force (NDF). It's chairman Dr Than Nyein is pictured at his desk in Yangon.
The National Unity Party (NUP) was the junta's favoured party in the 1990 elections but won only 21% of the vote. With 995 candidates, it's statistically well-positioned to win seats in the 2010 elections but struggling to distance itself from the "government proxy" label. Central Executive Committee members U Han Shwe and U Thein Tun pose at their Yangon office.
Lending credence to claims the elections would not be free and fair, the Union Solidarity and Development Party is registered on June 8. Led by Prime Minister U Thein Sein, the USDP makes use of organisational structures and resources belonging to the state-run Union Solidarity and Development Association. The old Mandalay USDA signboard is replaced by the USDP one.
Left: The Yangon office of the NDF has an old computer in the meeting room and "self-criticism" is written on the whiteboard.
Right: Candidate for Yangon's Sanchaung Township, Daw Nay Yee Ba Swe at a Democratic Party (Myanmar) office opening in Tharyarwady, Bago Division. The shed-like office is full with local paddy farmers.
Democratic Party: 47 candidates. NDF: 163 candidates. NUP: 995 candidates. USDP: 1100+ candidates. Many smaller political parties can barely afford the US$500 candidate registration fee so branch offices, such as the one in Tharyarwady, are generally provided free of charge by party patrons.
U Thu Wai, 77-year-old chairman of the Democratic Party, shortly before he and the executive secretaries - Daw Nay Yee Ba Swe, Daw Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein and Daw Than Than Nu - give speeches to about 150 people who risked muddy roads and a monsoon downpour to listen. The executive secretaries are all daughters of former prime ministers and deputy prime ministers.
Despite it being the fist time in two decades that political parties can hold public meetings and actively encourage open political dialogue, the international media is not much interested. The NLD are quiet, its leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi still under house arrest, and the USDP's financial and organisational advantage suggest an election result already decided.
The NDF are also busy opening offices. U Khin Maung Swe, who holds an advisory position for the party, addresses supporters at a branch opening in Chanmya Dharsi Township in Mandalay Region. U Khin Maung Swe and Dr Than Nyein are former NLD members and like many older opposition party candidates they have faced imprisonment for their political activism.
The 2008 constitution is the centrepiece of the junta's democracy roadmap but it is widely criticised for entrenching the military's role in government, most notably through a 25% seat allocation in the lower and upper houses of parliament. This flawed constitution requires a 75% majority to change, and for some provisions a national referendum also.
Other than the USDP, few of the political parties agree that the constitution is fair and many included pledges to alter it within their campaign manifestos. U Khin Maung Swe: “I want to make it clear that we are not entering the process because we support the 2008 constitution. But we hope that within a decade we can make the constitution more democratic.”1
Are parties such as the NDF traitors to the cause of democracy for their participation in such a flawed election process? Or, do they represent a more pragmatic approach to effecting political transition after 20 years of stalemate? In public, before a gathering of more than 70 people, a member of the public addresses a question to an NDF representative.
Plastic stools and cups housing 3in1 coffeemix are gathered up following the NDF Chanmya Dharsi branch opening. On election day, the NDF won 16 out of the 163 seats they contested, a crushing defeat. Although the ethnic parties did well, most of the opposition parties failed to secure any seats in either the Pyithu Hluttaw (lower) or Amyotha Hluttaw (upper) parliaments.
An NDF volunteer hands out flyers in Pyigee Tagone Township. The failure of the NDF to win many seats was embarrassing but they can argue that the new parliamentary system is itself still unproven and as the political landscap centre2e shifts, there would appear less and less space for an alternative transition process.
There is no shortage of volunteers at the opening of the USDP office in Mandalay. The event reveals the enormous gulf in funding between the USDP and other parties: hats, flags, badges, a large balloon display and lunch (with second helpings) for over 150 people. “We have been doing good for the people for a long time,” says USDP candidate Dr Kyaw Myint.1
Left: Two men come out in support of the USDP. The struggle of so many candidates to afford the US$500 registration fee put them at a disadvantage against wealthy USDP candidates who could legally spend up to K10 million (about US$8700) on their campaigns. Right: A volunteer rigs the tannoy system at an NDF meeting in Kyaukse Township, Mandalay Region.
Testing. Testing. NDF candidate U Khin Maung Than shortly before his speech in Dadaoolay village in Kyaukse Township. Volunteers stick up a few NDF posters at the entrance to the village where about 100 or more people congregate. Discounting advance votes, U Khin Maung Than would secure 13,927 votes to USDP candidate U Thaung's 110,079.
U Khin Maung Than holds up a copy of the 2008 constitution repeatedly during his speech. The crowd, a good proportion of whom are children, stick around for the long speeches but questions are not asked after. The children are treated one by one to a sweet drink once the speeches conclude.
The Election Commission required parties to organise meetings a week in advance. Many parties did not have funds to hire venues, forcing them to rely on monasteries and public spaces. Some venue proprietors refused to allow political meetings on their premises because they did not want to be involved with political meetings.
Ko Aye Thwin, a candidate for 88 Generation Student Youths speaks at home in Mandalay, a family member in the background. Uncertainty surrounding what sort of campaigning was permissible led many parties to eschew formal campaigning until just a few months before election day.
Fellow 88 Generation candidate U Sithu Aung. In the background are photos of Burmese independence hero Bogyoke Aung San, who was assassinated in 1947. The use of Aung San and other symbols associated with Burmese independence and the struggle for democracy, such as the peacock and the bamboo hat, are a common feature in campaign materials.
A picture of Bogyoke Aung San also hangs in the home of 87-year-old retired cap centre2tain Tun Sein, an NDF candidate for Singaing in Mandalay Region. U Tun Sein was 15-years-old when he joined a student protest against the British in 1938. He was later sentenced to six months in prison. Discounting advance votes, he would lose to USDP candidate U Kyi Pyone by 35,741 votes.
U Tun Sein: "The fate of this country will be determined by its youths. If both the [candidates] that are elected and the young men who assume duties in the government lead moral lives and carry out their tasks efficiently, there will be a democratic state will full human rights and development."1
U Aung Khine, NDF deputy chairman for Mandalay Region: “We can’t give any incentive to people to come to our events because we are just operating using our own funds and accept no help from others. Anyway, we don’t want supporters who need a present to come to an NDF event. We just need those who really understand and believe in our policies.”1
Discounting advance votes, U Aung Khine would lose to USDP candidate U Maung Ko by 14,563 votes. Returning to Yangon, August 14 arrives and the date of the election is finally announced in the English edition of the state-owned New Light of Myanmar newspaper. Until this point, political parties have campaigned cautiously, not wanting to fall foul of election laws.
The Mandalay head office of the Wunthanu NLD. This is also the family home of party chairman U Ye Min and general secretary Daw Nan Shwe Kyar. The party existed as an association for about five years before formally registering as a political party, despite its close connection with the NLD. It has five candidates in the election.
Chairman U Ye Min puts on a formal shirt in the Wunthanu NLD office. Daw Nan Shwe Kyar: “We have a small numbers of candidates because the deadline to submit our candidate list is short and we have to consider the cost of running a campaign."1
It's late September and I'm eager to photograph election campaigning rather than more party leaders talking in their offices. Wanting to accommodate, Daw Nan Shwe Kyar's two daughters appear grateful to receive campaign literature from Wunthanu NLD volunteers. I explain that I'm looking for actual, not fictional, campaigning.
And so we burst out into the midday heat and canvas the local area. At this point I'm not sure if this is real campaigning or not. The people are clearly surprised to be given campaign literature, but this could be because they've already seen it. I'm still not sure.
Although I'm a little frustrated by this campaign masquerade, I realise later just how far many of the political parties have to go in terms of managing their relationships with the media, but also, how much the local media has to learn about responsible journalism, especially if President U Thein Sein's commitment to greater media freedom is more than rhetoric.
It's now late October and my second visit to the Wunthanu NLD office. This time the party is quite organised and we travel to a nearby village where Daw Nan Shwe Kyar gives a speech in the open space below someone's house. Campaign events are so often polarised, either attended by men, or by women and children.
In a good example of how opposition parties could split the vote relative to the USDP, in Patheingyi Township discounting advance votes, Daw Nan Shwe Kyar secured 3722 votes, the NDF 18,365, NUP 17,577 and 88 Generation 1947, The USDP won 45,230. If the USDP is to be effectively countered in future elections, opposition parties may need to consolidate.
After meeting independent candidate Dr Than Myint at his Mandalay home earlier in the day, he invites me to photograph him at the famous U Bein Bridge. I find it a little strange that he keeps asking me if he can stop handing out pamphlets, until I twig that the trip to U Bein is more for my benefit than for his campaign.
NDF candidate U Tin Aung Aung hands out party pamphlets with his volunteers at the bottom of Mandalay Hill in October. Many of the Mandalay-based candidates would use public holidays to electioneer and make monastery donations, taking advantage of the large gatherings of people.
U Nay Myo Wai, general secretary of the Peace and Diversity Party and upper house candidate for a Yangon Region seat, makes a speech before later fielding questions from 50 or so people seated on plastic chairs. The party fielded seven candidates in the election, mostly in Yangon Region’s Mingalardon Township and Ayeyarwady Region’s Bogale Township.
U Nay Myo Wai: "Our strategy is to say openly what we think is right. Other parties are afraid but we are determined to speak loudly – and we have more detailed policies, so we also have something meaningful to say.”1Discounting advance votes, U Nay Myo Wai would lose by 95,353 votes to the USDP candidate. Once again, other parties split the vote against the USDP.
U Nyo Min Lwin, a candidate for Mingalardon Township, relaxes following the public meeting. While most political parties were content to simply hand out pamphlets and give speeches, the Peace and Diversity Party's town hall style meetings were less scripted, but also riskier considering they were closely supervised by the authorities.
Independent candidate for Chanayethazan Township in Mandalay Region, U Sein Hla printed large vinyl posters of news and historical articles to adorn his front yard and released audio tapes covering his views on politics. Out of 82 independents, only six would win. In U Sein Hla's constituency, the USDP would defeat second-placed NDF on the basis of advance votes.
Government staff walk to their desks at an election ballot rehearsal in Bahtoo Stadium, Chanayathazan Township in Mandalay in late September. The rehearsal is organised by the Divisional Election Commission. Hundreds of government workers watch from the stands.
Senior figures in the local government watch the rehearsal take place. On election day, supervisors would be responsible for checking voter details – NRC card and election token – before allowing voters to move on to the ballot box to cast their vote.
The real voting process on November 7 has been widely condemned as unfair due to the enormous amount of advance votes cast for the USDP. But if the Election Commission's breakdown of results is accurate then it is clear that few USDP candidates won based on advance votes. What is difficult to determine is to what degree people felt pressured to vote USDP.
Although the USDP could mount a large campaign effort, including billboard posters, road-building and what seemed like a t-shirt giveaway to rickshaw drivers across Yangon, they also failed to speak with the media and convey their message effectively. Their only press conference, which was actually surprisingly candid, was one week before the elections.
Mock voters show their national registration cards, the details of which are then cross-checked with voter registration lists before ballot papers are given. Something notably lacking during the election was the use of computers, both as a means of organisation but also as a means for parties to communicate with potential voters.
Left: Nobody could tell me if the man progressing through the mock voting process was really injured or not. Right: U Than Oo, a retired headteacher and NUP candidate in Mandalay Region. Many older candidates did little active campaigning, instead relying on their record of public service to win the vote.
This reluctance to campaign can be attributed to a lack of funds, advanced age and what might be considered over-confidence - the democratic voting process is blind after all - but it also reflects on the fact that many candidates were coaxed (some argue coerced) into running by parties that needed to field as many candidates as possible.
The need of parties such as the NUP and USDP to field so many candidates makes it difficult to simplify the nature of their membership. For example, U Ko Gyi, who beat the NDF candidate in Aungmyaythazan Township, Mandalay Region, by 4101 votes, is a well-respected business trader of over 30-years experience. His win was not based on advance votes.
Independent candidate Phyo Wai Htet at his education centre in Mandalay. Young candidates were few and far between in the 2010 election. Many struggled to raise campaign money, but young people generally seemed unwilling to place their faith in the process drawn up by the government, believing their participation would not change anything.
Candidate U Aung Myin Kyaw makes a telephone call in the Party for Democracy and Peace office in Yangon. The party was based on the League for Democracy and Peace, which was founded by former Prime Minister U Nu. Most of the political parties running in the election had fewer than 40 candidates, many had less than 10.
Volunteers for the Democratic Party meet early in the morning, ready for a day's campaigning in Yangon's Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township for party chairman U Thu Wai. Election candidates would often call on the support of young relatives to help them distribute pamphlets.
Another Democratic Party volunteer attaches campaign literature to rope-string letterboxes. Most people in downtown Yangon live in apartment buildings that have ropes cast down from the balconies with bulldog clips or baskets on the end for hoisting up.
To better inform voters about their policies, parties such as the NDF and Democratic Party published monthly journals, which retailed at about K500 (US$0.40). The journals contained information about the parties' logos, histories, policies, candidate profiles and activities such as office openings.
Distributing party pamphlets is hard work for volunteers in Yangon who have to contend with large apartment buildings and the occasional downpour. Party candidates, being a little older, would often hang back with the party truck. Often this would prevent them from making direct contact with potential voters.
Downtown Yangon offers up plenty of opportunities to meet people but in many of the city's richer neighbourhoods, canvassing is limited to pushing party pamphlets through gates before moving on to the next house, each with its standard issue barbed wire fence. Door-to-door canvassing does not include ringing doorbells and speaking with voters.
Left: A young girl poses with a Democratic Party pamphlet in downtown Yangon.
Right: A party volunteer stands before yet another downtown apartment block.
A man asks to be photographed with a pamphlet given to him by a Democratic Party volunteer. Behind him are hoardings advertising Hero whisky. Worried about foul play on voting day, parties were very careful to show voters their logos with a tick box on their pamphlets, which is what voters would see on their ballot forms.
Daw Nay Yee Ba Swe, Democratic Party candidate for Yangon's Sanchaung Township, canvasses in her constituency. The Democratic Party especially focussed on delivering pamphlets to all 47 constituencies its candidates were running in.
It's questionable how effective pamphlet distribution is as a means of communicating a party's message. However, with strict regulations imposed by the Election Commission and limited funds, this was one of the easier, albeit time-consuming, methods parties had of communicating with voters.
Each political party was limited to two party political broadcasts on state TV, the texts of which were submitted to the authorities in advance and subject to censorship. With limited internet use in the country, particularly in rural areas, parties had to rely on print media coverage and radio broadcasts, in addition to canvassing.
People gather pamphlets attached to their rope-string letterboxes in Yangon's Sanchaung Township.
A man holds a pamphlet given to him by the Democratic Party.
A bamboo hat or khamouk belonging to an NDF volunteer sits on the table at a teashop in Yangon. The bamboo hat is strongly identified with the NLD's fight for democracy but was used by the NDF as their official logo. All political parties had to have their logos scrutinised by the Election Commission. Some were rejected.
NDF volunteers sit at a teashop in Yangon shortly before they go out to campaign.
NDF candidate for Ayeyarwady Region's Pathein Township, U Soe Myint, poses at home near Hledan market in Yangon. Discounting advance votes, U Soe Myint would secure 32,032 votes on November 7 to the USDP's 82,338. The NUP took 33,765 votes. U Than Tun of the USDP would also receive 8338 advance votes, almost 11% of his total.
Independent candidates and directors of the Mingalar Myanmar NGO, Dr Phone Win and Daw Yuza Maw Htoon canvass at Yangon's Hledan market with their son. In Kamaryut Township, Dr Phone Win would get 6237 votes, losing to the NDF (8971 votes) and USDP (9143 votes) candidates. 1043 advance votes for the USDP would swing the result in that party's favour.
Key to the campaigns of Dr Phone Win and Daw Yuza Maw Htoon was spending a few hours a day on the street, meeting with local people in busy market areas and passing out pamphlets. Rather than tell everybody a little about themselves, they hoped that quality time spent with people would generate support through word of mouth.
Democratic Party candidates and volunteers meet for a campaign event in a long, narrow room in South Okkalapa. After the speeches are concluded, members pump their fists into the air following the party chant.
In South Okkalapa, Democratic Party faithful pose for a group shot. Cars struggle to navigate the half-finished concrete road, one of many projects started by the USDP before the election but only finished after. It's mid-October and the rain is putting a serious damper on campaign activities.
U Hla Myint of the Democratic Party uses the phone at the teashop of a candidate in South Okkalapa. In a back room, party volunteers work hard to waterproof campaign literature and cover the music speakers for when they are put on the campaign truck.
Young men sit on a train at a station in South Okkalapa. The area is a large, flat expanse of streets on a grid, each gated, each quiet. The volunteers and candidate meet very few people. But getting people to attend a campaign event, especially in the rain, is even greater a challenge.
One of the few people we meet in South Okkalapa. In the background, the Democratic Party's truck blares a catchy theme tune from a sound system running off a mini-generator inside. The few members of the press that stuck around after the meeting gradually depart, more rain is likely and the streets are near abandoned.
In Mandalay, the Democratic Party takes a different approach to canvassing. A group organised by candidate Dr Tin Maung Tun put up party posters across his constituency, using motorbikes to get around.
Daw Than Than Nu canvasses in her constituency in Mandalay Region. Candidates had to provide party volunteers to monitor polling stations on election day. Unfortunately, the huge number of polling stations made it very difficult for parties to organise sufficient volunteers, especially for candidates in constituencies where they are not ordinarily resident.
In major urban centres the idea of door-to-door campaigning seems confused with door-to-door pamphlet stuffing. In the country, candidates seem more relaxed about meeting people in their houses or stopping in the street to have a proper chat.
At a football field in Mandalay's Pyikyitagon Township in October, the NUP truck people in for what is billed as a major meeting. The field is certainly large enough but from the truck spill mostly women and children who seem more interested in a day out than a party speech.
The NUP ask everyone to sign their name in a book. NUP candidate Major Maung Soe (retired) is on hand to see that everything runs smoothly. Discounting advance votes, he would lose to USDP candidate U Maung Ko by 17,570 votes. It's early morning but stifling hot and after photos are taken, the meeting is shifted into the shade of a nearby tree.
In the hills an hour from Pyin Oo Lwin, the Shan Nationalities Development Party (SDNP) meets to run through the responsibilities of the party's election volunteers on November 7. The SDNP is concerned that the Election Commission will not print political parties' names on the ballot form, instead using their logos only. The USDP will be at the top.
It's less than ten days to the election and the NDF holds a press conference at a run-down English-language school in Yangon. The party is still embroiled in a financial scandal following the disclosure that Myanmar Egress vice chairman U Hla Maung Shwe made a private contribution to the NDF campaign effort.
An NDF member at the press conference. The NDF survives the funding scandal, showing, if anything, just how difficult it is to draw clear lines within Myanmar politics between those working to maintain autocracy and those working for democracy. With so many "third force" actors looking to effect change through the existing system, political allegiances resist easy definition.
It's November 6, just one day before the election. Than Zaw Aung, a candidate for the Democratic Party does one final sweep of his Yangon constituency with the campaign truck and a few volunteers. Ko Than Zaw Aung is a lawyer and leader of the party's youth wing, but for this election at least, young people have only limited involvement.
Democratic Party volunteers fool around on the back of the campaign truck as we sweep through the streets. Now and again they will throw a keyring with the party's logo on at a rickshaw driver but Ko Than Zaw Aung tells them off because it's rude to throw things at people, besides which, their aim is quite bad.
Election day has finally arrived and while some polling stations are reportedly quite busy, most receive only a trickle of voters. However, in downtown Yangon at least there are many polling stations, often on alternate streets. A man walks into a station in Kyauktada Township. Note the half-complete USDP road.
A family arrives to cast their vote at another downtown Yangon polling station. According to the state-run New Light of Myanmar voter turnout for the Pyithu Hluttaw was 77.26%. For the Amyotha Hluttaw it was 76.78% and the State or Region Hluttaws had a turnout of 76.62%. This was higher than the 72.6% voter turnout in the 1990 elections.
Young men look over lists of approved voters at a polling station on Bo Aung Kyaw Road in Yangon's Kyauktada Township. Reports soon come in that people have been left off the official lists, effectively disenfranchising them. The randomness of those left off the lists would suggest administrative error rather than voter screening.
Left: On Bo Aung Kyaw Road local authorities soon intervene to stop photography. Media coverage is limited to official press on pre-arranged trips to polling stations across the country, organised by Press Scrutiny and Registration Division, under the Ministry of Information. Right: U Thu Wai checks a polling station in Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township.
However, the restrictions on media are weakly enforced and in some polling stations reporters are free to roam. At a polling station on Yangon's Strand Road, two medical volunteers escort a man to the street. With few party volunteers, U Myo Nyunt, chairman of the Party for Democracy and Peace, must check on some of the polling stations personally.
A young candidate for 88 Generation walks to a polling station in Yangon on November 7.
At a voting station in Yangon's Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township, Election Commission officials and party representatives work through each vote cast to make sure there is no foul play. Reports of voting problems are gathered: people being left off voter registration lists and rumours of large numbers of advance votes cast for the USDP.
It's 10pm on November 7. The election results are trickling in and its becoming clear that the Democratic Party is not doing as well as it had hoped. Chairman U Thu Wai receives a phone update from Daw Than Than Nu in Mandalay. His own election battle is close and he will eventually lose to the USDP.