MYANMAR-ELECTION/SINGAPORE-EARLY VOTE Long queues as Myanmar nationals living in Singapore cast votes ahead of election

Record ID: 134721

  • Title: MYANMAR-ELECTION/SINGAPORE-EARLY VOTE Long queues as Myanmar nationals living in Singapore cast votes ahead of election
  • Date: 17th October 2015
  • Summary: SINGAPORE (OCTOBER 17, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EARLY VOTING QUEUE OUTSIDE OF SINGAPORE'S MYANMAR EMBASSY PEOPLE IN THE QUEUE EATING BANANAS (SOUNDBITE)(Burmese) WAI MAR AUNG, 27, ACCOUNTANT SAYING: "I hope the NLD will win more seats in parliament. I will feel satisfied if the NLD wins and our education system and other services like healthcare are also improved." EMBASSY
  • Embargoed: 1st November 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Thailand
  • Country: Thailand
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA8VCP73EKXG1LFFIIQUR331UE9
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Queues more than 2km long snaked around the Myanmar embassy in Singapore on Saturday (October 17) as thousands waited to cast their ballots ahead of the November 8 elections.
    Myanmar nationals from all walks of life have been waiting outside the the embassy since Thursday (October 15), the first of four days of absentee voting in Singapore.
    A residents group who was helping the embassy in organizing the voters and the voting said around 22,000 people are registered to vote. Tokens have been handed out to those who are eligible and people with these slips of paper were expected to come to the embassy between 9:30 a.m. (0130GMT) and 4:30 p.m. (0830 GMT) on the four days.
    Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) is expected to do well in the vote, a milestone in the country's transition from a military dictatorship to democracy.
    "I hope the NLD will win more seats in parliament. I will feel satisfied if the NLD wins and our education system and other services like healthcare are also improved," said Wai Mar Aung, 27, an accountant.
    "Most people who work in Singapore are educated people. Because our education in Myanmar is useless, the priority is that I want to change our education system," said Kyaw Naying Lin, 34, an engineer.
    The NLD won an election in 1990 with a landslide but the junta did not recognize the result.
    Though the party is expected to win most seats in the upcoming election, there are no guarantees it will lead the executive.
    The president, who is chosen in a parliamentary vote that includes the military, chooses his or her own cabinet, not necessarily from among political parties.
    The constitution bars Suu Kyi from becoming president, regardless of the election outcome.
    Local media reports, quoting embassy officials in Singapore, said the number of voters was larger than expected and embassy staff have increased the number of booths to cope.
    "The embassy here cannot handle the number of the turn out of voters, because they don't enough staff. So we are here volunteering to help Myanmar citizens in Singapore to exercise their right to vote," said one volunteer, May Kyaw Soe Nyut.
    Exact numbers of Myanmar nationals in Singapore is not available, but media reports and residents organizations say only a fraction are able to vote this time. Many without voter tokens were seen standing in the queue hopeful that they would be allowed to cast a ballot.
    "These people are largely going to be disenfranchised because the system doesn't encourage their participation, it doesn't engage with them in an early way. Doing overseas absentee voting is difficult, it's technically tough and the government, I don't think is invested the amount of time they need to do to ensure that everybody from Burma, wherever they are have the opportunity to vote," said Human Rights Watch's head of Asia Division, Phil Robertson.
    The election marks a major shift in Myanmar's political landscape, giving a platform to democratic activists crushed during a half-century of military rule that ended that year.
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