The incoming Arakan State Parliament may be a weaker check and balance on the state government than its predecessors as fewer lawmakers will be seated due to election cancellations across much of the state this year, according to the leader of the Arakan National Party (ANP).

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS Myanmar) has sought the approval of the union government to establish additional marine conservation areas in Arakan State, according to the environmental organisation’s marine conservation manager, U Thaung Htut. 

Seven journalists’ groups have found fault with the Union Election Commission’s treatment of members of the media who covered the 2020 campaign and November 8 general election, accusing commission staff of intimidation and unnecessarily hindering reporters on the job.  

Internally displaced people (IDPs) in Rathedaung Township, which hosts Arakan State’s highest IDP population, say they are worried about the risk of contracting COVID-19 as infections of the deadly virus have risen by 69 in just five days.

Fresh off elections that look set to deliver a second term for the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) government, the party has reached out to 48 of Myanmar’s ethnic political parties, inviting cooperation to achieve what it says are shared goals, including the establishment of a federal union.

Sixteen political parties have called for a commission to be formed to review the conduct of the recent general election and its voting outcomes, with the parties saying their proposal is intended to ensure that the 2020 poll was free and fair.   

Myanmar’s electoral authorities have rejected claims by some political parties that Sunday’s general election was unfair.  

About 150 internally displaced people (IDPs) taking shelter at the No. 2 IDP camp in Ann Township, Arakan State, are calling on the local government to provide adequate water at the settlement, which is facing a shortage of drinking water.

The Three Brotherhood Alliance has urged the Myanmar government to withdraw its declaration of ethnic armed organisations as terrorist groups and unlawful associations in order to build trust in the country’s peace process. 

A schoolteacher on duty at a polling station on Election Day has tested positive for COVID-19 in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township, and 34 people who had contact with her have been quarantined, according to the Kyaukphyu Hospital superintendent.

The Arakan Army (AA) has called on the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) led-government and the Tatmadaw to hold by-elections before December 31 in townships where the 2020 general election has not yet been held.   

As of Wednesday evening, the Union Election Commission (UEC) had announced the winners of nearly all of the Hluttaw (parliamentary) seats up for grabs in Arakan State in the November 8 general election.

Myanmar’s Union Election Commission (UEC) has reminded candidates who contested the 2020 general election to submit their election expenditures within 30 days of their respective state/region election subcommission’s announcement of their race’s winner.

The European Union has called for holding by-elections “at the earliest possible” in constituencies where the 2020 general election did not take place on November 8. 

The incumbent Chin ethnic affairs minister for Arakan State from the National League for Democracy (NLD) has been re-elected to the post, beating out seven competitors for the seat, according to the ruling party’s state spokesperson.  

Residents were fleeing to nearby villages on Wednesday after a military column entered Aung Lan Chain village in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township and conducted interrogations of locals beginning at around 7 a.m. on November 11.  

The Arakan State election subcommission’s secretary said statewide there had been only one complaint of voting fraud as of November 11, three days after Election Day. 

Local residents on Kyaukphyu Township’s Maday Island who make a living fishing are finding it difficult to secure their livelihood as security personnel at the Danyawaddy naval base, located near the island, have recently tightened security checks.  

Two women will be sworn in next year as the second and third female members of the Arakan State Parliament in the chamber’s history, according to election tallies released by political parties competing in the state.