Arakan National Party to meet junta-controlled Union Election Commission

11 Oct 2022

DMG Newsroom
11 October 2022, Sittwe 

The Arakan National Party (ANP) will meet with the junta-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC) on Wednesday after it was summoned to Naypyidaw by the electoral body regarding a recent party statement condemning the regime’s fatal shellings of villages in Arakan State. 

Three senior members of the ANP will meet with the junta’s electoral body on Wednesday, said ANP chairman U Tha Tun Hla. 

“We have decided to meet the UEC. I myself will meet UEC officials along with two other senior members of the party,” U Tha Tun Hla told DMG. 

In its statement on September 29, the ANP condemned the Myanmar military for recent artillery attacks that resulted in civilian casualties and damage to dozens of houses. 

The party urged the warring groups to refrain from involving residential areas in attacks on the other side. 

The statement also called on the Myanmar military to lift its travel ban on local and international nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) providing humanitarian aid to internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State. The ANP statement called the travel ban in both conflict zones and unaffected areas a threat to the lives of local people living in those areas. 

In response, the junta-controlled electoral body summoned ANP officials on October 4 to a meeting at the UEC office. The UEC told reporters on October 7 that it would take necessary action in line with the relevant laws and regulations depending on the results of its discussions with ANP officials, reported RFA. 

“We will discuss accordingly, based on discussions on the UEC. We have an appointment with them at 10 a.m. on October 12. We don’t know how long discussions will last,” said U Tha Tun Hla.

Six civilians died, and 25 others were injured by junta artillery strikes in August and September amid the renewed fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, according to a DMG tally. 

The regime on September 16 ordered local and international nongovernmental NGOs to halt humanitarian aid operations in six townships — Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Minbya, Mrauk-U and Myebon — amid rising military tensions in the region.