Yangon (dpa) – Authorities in Myanmar have postponed voting for the April 1 parliamentary by-elections in parts of Kachin because of security concerns in the strife-torn state, local media reported Saturday. The Election Commission said the situation in the northern state was too unstable and voting would not take place until the situation improved, the government-run New Light of Myanmar reported. There has been sporadic fighting in Kachin since June, with about 75,000 people displaced, according to Human Rights Watch, a pressure group. The vote is being held to fill 48 parliamentary seats. Earlier this week, the government invited election observers from the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to monitor the elections, the first in which Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi will be a candidate since she was released from house arrest in 2010. ASEAN groups Myanmar, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The government has also invited the United States to send observers, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Wednesday. The National League for Democracy (NLD), the main opposition party led by pro-democracy activists San Suu Kyi, boycotted the last elections in 2010, but has now fielded a nearly full slate of candidates for the April 1 vote. Western governments regard the by-elections as an important benchmark for the reform process undertaken by President Thein Sein after he came to power a year ago. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/Rql4z Tags: Election, Kachin, Myanmar, Vote Section: Latest News, Southeast Asia
