The Kachin State People’s Party (KSPP) won’t broadcast their party’s policy speech on Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) after being asked to censor it by the Union Election Commission (UEC).
Salang Naw Hkung, in charge of the youth department of KSPP, said UEC told the party to change its policy speech for broadcast on MRTV.
As the KSPP can not accept censorship, the speech will be published on the party’s official Facebook page. “The UEC wants to replace natural resources are for the people of Kachin State with natural resources are for the people of Kachin State and citizens of the country,” Salang Naw Hkung said.
He explained they can’t accept this because KSPP is a state-based party with policies to protect and benefit the rights of citizens of Kachin State.
Since September, other political parties have been broadcasting speeches on the government TV station.
Shwe Min, chair of the Lisu National Development Party (LNDP), explained that his party’s speech was not censored. “At first, they instructed us to come to Naypyitaw to make the video but because of the COVID-19 pandemic we couldn’t go. We sent our own video. We planned to broadcast in both Lisu and Burmese, but in the end we could only make the video in Burmese.”
LNDP’s speech aired on September 20.
Over 50 political parties vying for the election had their speeches broadcast on MRTV. Some of these include Lhaovo National Unity and Development Party, Kachin National Congress Party and New Democracy Party (for Kachin State).
Speeches for Davoy National Party, People’s Party, Chin National League for Democracy, Democratic Party of New Society, Arakan National Party and Arkan Front Party were also censored by the UEC.
A total of 6,969 electoral candidates and over 90 political parties are competing in the upcoming race, with the election day set for November 8. There are 1,934 electoral candidates competing for the House of Representatives, 976 candidates for the House of Nationalities, 3,847 for State Parliament and 176 candidates contesting ethnic ministerial posts.
In Kachin State, there are 19 political parties as well as independent candidates running in the race. There are about 1.1M people eligible to vote in the state.
