National News

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• NLD leader faces headwinds in Kachin
• Ethnic armed groups take no responsibility for election security
• Mandalay election officials snowed in with voter list corrections
• Ma Ba Tha justifies religion in politics
• Foreign minister fires back at UN from Gen Assembly podium
• Drug cases not political, say police
• Ceasefire to be signed October 15
• Ethnic Chinese hope for an NLD victory
• Disabled orgs reject separate voting

NLD leader faces headwinds in Kachin Posted: 04 Oct 2015 02:30 PM PDT Opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has taken her campaign to Kachin State, offering familiar pledges to fight corruption and bring development, pitching for the support of residents apprehensive about the possible return of the Myitsone Dam project. But she is battling what appears to be flagging support in an electoral battleground that has shifted considerably since her party's by-election triumph three years ago.

Ethnic armed groups take no responsibility for election security Posted: 04 Oct 2015 02:30 PM PDT Leaders of several armed ethnic groups say they will not take responsibility for security for next month's elections in territory they control, stressing that the peace process – not voting – is their priority.

Mandalay election officials snowed in with voter list corrections Posted: 04 Oct 2015 02:30 PM PDT Electoral officials in Mandalay Region are struggling to process requests for voters list additions from more than 70,000 people who have complained that their names have been omitted.

Ma Ba Tha justifies religion in politics Posted: 04 Oct 2015 02:30 PM PDT The self-appointed guardians of "race and religion" yesterday justified their religiously infused politics as necessary under the circumstances. Speaking in Yangon at the finale event after a month-long victory lap for their four newly enacted and controversial laws, members of Ma Ba Tha said their political work is necessary to protect Buddhist people during a period of transition.

Foreign minister fires back at UN from Gen Assembly podium Posted: 04 Oct 2015 02:30 PM PDT After nearly a week of taking blows for everything from the peace process to "atrocious" conditions at internally displaced persons camps to the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of ethnic minority voters, foreign minister U Wunna Maung Lwin struck back at the UN this weekend.

Drug cases not political, say police Posted: 04 Oct 2015 02:30 PM PDT Myanmar's conflict-ridden and remote borders have helped make the country the second-biggest narcotics market in the world after China, say the police.

Ceasefire to be signed October 15 Posted: 04 Oct 2015 02:30 PM PDT Seven armed ethnic groups and government negotiators agreed yesterday to set October 15 for signing the "nationwide ceasefire agreement" after nearly two years of negotiations, despite the refusal of several major factions to join the pact.

Ethnic Chinese hope for an NLD victory Posted: 04 Oct 2015 02:30 PM PDT For many elderly ethnic Chinese residents of Yangon, the anti-Chinese riots of 1967 are still a fresh wound. It is widely believed that the military government deliberately stoked the violence in an attempt to divert attention from the deteriorating economy. The anti-Chinese sentiment fomented by the regime continues to reverberate, and many of the ethnic Chinese in Yangon consider a vote for the ruling party, the brainchild of then-Senior General Than Shwe, unthinkable.

Disabled orgs reject separate voting Posted: 04 Oct 2015 02:30 PM PDT Organisations representing blind and disabled persons are insisting on equal voting rights, with those who have visual or hearing impairments able to cast a ballot in the November 8 poll the same way anyone else would.

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