Buthidaung Township

Villagers have accused township officials of harassment for not supporting Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) candidates in Sunday’s national election, according to an election watchdog group in Maungdaw.

Voters from Buthidaung say they have been threatened by Major Sein Win, commander of the Burma’s border security force in Area 9 because they voted for candidates of the National Democratic Party for Development (NDPD).

Reports of intimidation and arrests in ethnic areas during Burma’s elections

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has received reports of harassment, intimidation, violence and arrests in several of Burma’s ethnic states, during and immediately following the sham elections three days ago.

Over 500 residents of urban wards in northern Arakan's Buthidaung Township in western Burma were unable to exercise their franchise in Sunday's election, the first nationwide polls in 20 years, after their names were deleted from the voters list by the Election Commission.

U Tun Aung Thein, a candidate of the RNDP contesting for state parliament in Constituency 2 in Buthidaung, told Narinjara that most of those who were excluded from the voters list were from Ward No. 4 and 5 in Buthidaung.

Rathidaung Township authorities in Arakan have pressurized government employees to cast early votes for the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in a meeting held on Sunday in the town, said a government-employee and party source.

U Aung Myo Myint, Chairman of Rathidaung Township, told government employees at the meeting to cast early votes for the regime-backed USDP.