Reversing course, UEC will allow PACE to monitor election, group says

By Min Tun 17 Aug 2020

Min Tun | DMG
17 August, Sittwe 

The Union Election Commission (UEC) has reportedly said it will allow People’s Alliance for Credible Elections (PACE) to monitor the polls in Myanmar’s upcoming general election, backtracking on previous indications that it would bar the group from observing the vote. 

The UEC informed PACE of the reversal in a telephone call on August 14, according to the elections watchdog. 

“Currently, the UEC has notified PACE via phone,” said Ko Han Soe Tun, project manager for PACE. “It has not received the official letter yet. PACE has a plan to meet with the UEC. Only then will we get the exact information about election observation.” 

In a letter dated July 30, the UEC said it would not allow PACE to deploy poll monitors for the November election, the group announced last week. The UEC letter said PACE’s application for election observing was rejected because the foreign funding it received was not in conformity with the Association Registration Law. 

A total of 443 local CSOs subsequently issued a joint statement objecting to the UEC’s initial decision to bar PACE from election observation. 

“We welcome it,” said Ko Sithu of the Doe Myae Network, one of the CSOs signing on to the joint statement, referring to the UEC’s apparent change of heart this week. “But it is not OK only when there is public pressure. The UEC needs to make arrangements to avoid such problems.” 

PACE officials said they welcomed the UEC’s decision and anticipate that the organisation will be permitted to carry out its monitoring  activities freely, as it has in previous polls. 

PACE deployed observers during Myanmar’s last general election in 2015, two by-elections in 2017 and 2018, and the Yangon City Development Committee election in 2019. 

PACE has plans to monitor the November 8 general election using about 2,900 observers nationwide.