Bangkok, August 21: Elections in Myanmar next year are set to alter the political landscape despite not being free and fair, with a chance that leaders of the ruling junta could step aside, a think tank said on Friday.
The polls will give local and international stakeholders an opportunity to push for change despite a constitution that entrenches the military’s role in politics, the International Crisis Group said.
Myanmar’s generals have vowed to hold the elections some time in 2010, the first national vote since 1990 when they refused to recognise an overwhelming victory by the party of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
The ICG report said that the recent extension of Suu Kyi’s house arrest by another 18 months, after a bizarre incident in which an American man swam to her home, had returned attention to repression in Myanmar.
“But while the elections will not be free and fair… the Constitution and elections together will fundamentally change the political landscape in a way the government may not be able to control,” the report said.
The influential think tank said junta leader Than Shwe, 76, and his ageing deputy Maung Aye “may soon step down or move to ceremonial roles, making way for a younger military generation” after the polls.
–Agencies