more controversial than the last ones. It was, as Burma expert and scholar Sean
Turnell put it, a ‘constitutionalized fac ̧ade for ongoing military rule’.
38
Four out of the five parties that dominated the 1990 elections – including the
NLD – refused to participate, citing unjust and biased registration laws. To oversee
the election, the SPDC established the Union Election Commission, whose
seventeen members were either retired generals or had close ties with the SPDC.
The commission’s decisions were final and there were no avenues for judicial
review. The polls were dominated by parties known to be closely linked to the
military junta, such as the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP),
the National Unity Party (NUP) and the Union Solidarity and Development
Association (USDA).
The SPDC claimed a voter turnout of 76 per cent, though it has been suggested
that it may well have been lower than 30 per cent.^39 Restrictive election
laws skewed the election in favour of large parties and it was no surprise that
the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party won more than
75 per cent of the seats in both the Amyotha Hluttaw and the Pyithu Hluttaw.
As Turnell stated:
Myanmar’s 2010 elections were flawed by a number of irregularities on
polling day, but their outcome was in any case a foregone conclusion.
In the end, some 37 parties contested the elections, but a number of
other parties (some genuinely independent, some representing ethnic
minorities) as well as individuals were excluded. Among the latter
were political prisoners, including the most famous, Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi...The NDF faced the obstacles that confronted most
participants – high registration fees (around US$ 300 per party and
$ 500 per candidate). Other impediments were the severe restrictions
on freedom of speech and assembly (including election-specific
injunctions against criticism of the Constitution and the polling
process), a lack of access to the media and an absence of free reporting,
and a pervasive environment of fear and intimidation.
40The first session of the military-dominated legislature was called on 31 January 2011
and U Thein Sein, a Than Shwe prote ́ge ́, was elected president. Thura U Tin Aung
Myint Oo and Dr Sai Mauk Kham were elected vice-presidents. Less than a week
later, on 13 November 2010 , the SPDC released Aung San Suu Kyi from house
arrest. In August 2011 , she held a closed-door meeting with President U Thein Sein
and remarked that while Burma was seeing positive changes, it still had a long way
to go.
41
In September 2011 , the Pyithu Hluttaw passed a law allowing workers to form
unions and assemble peaceably. As censorship was relaxed, the state-owned news-
paper,New Light of Myanmar, ran an article mildly criticising the government.
(^38) Turnell, ‘Myanmar in 2010 ,at 148. (^39) Ibid.
(^40) Ibid., at 149 – 50. (^41) ‘Myanmar sees the light’,Straits Times, 12 September 2011.