Burma election losers attract new supporters

Although they won few seats in last month’s parliamentary elections, Burma opposition parties were heartened by an upsurge in applications for party membership, a newspaper said Sunday.

The Burma Times quoted opposition party leaders as saying new supporters were seeking them out because they want to participate in electoral politics.

Military-ruled Burma held its first election in two decades on November 7 in a vote widely seen as rigged to ensure the armed forces retain their dominant position.

“The last election has made people realise that politics is not a dangerous issue and that it is relevant for every single person in the country,” U Nay Myo Wai, general secretary of the Peace and Diversity Party, was quoted as saying. “They have to participate if they want a change.

As a result, our party is getting more new members.”

“When we were registering our party, we needed to have 1 000 members, and at that time, it was very hard for us to convince people to join, but now here they are, coming to us without any encouragement,” U Nay Myo Wai said.

The Peace and Diversity Party fielded seven candidates on November 7, none of whom were successful.

Parties representing Burma’s ethnic minorities, which tended to do better in the election, were also reported to be gaining support.

NLD refuses to partake
U Zaw Aye Maung from the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, which won 35 of the 44 seats it contested, said he was surprised at the number of new members the party had attracted after the election.

“Many Rakhine people have come and joined up at our offices in Rakhine region,” he said. “It is such a big improvement.”

Burma’s best-known opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, refused to participate in the election because of harsh restrictions imposed by the ruling junta.

Suu Kyi was released from house arrest after the election and has appeared at several public gatherings, attracting large crowds of enthusiastic supporters.—Sapa-DPA