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The Electoral System of Myanmar 國立中山大學中國與亞太區域研究所 碩士論文 Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies National Sun Yat-sen University Master Thesis 緬甸選舉制度之研究 The Electoral System of Myanmar 研究生：柯蓉卡 Kristína Kironská 指導教授：林文程 博士 Dr. Wen-cheng Lin 中華民國 100 年 7 月 July 2011 I Acknowledgements From the formative stages of this thesis, to the final draft, I owe an immense debt of gratitude to my thesis advisor, Dr. Wen-cheng Lin. His sound advice and careful guidance were invaluable as I attempted to examine the electoral system of Myanmar and the legitimacy of the current government established after the 2010 elections. I would also like to thank Miss Wu, the China and Asia-Pacific department’s secretary, for her never failing and patient assistance. A sincere thank to all professors of the Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies and the Institute of Political Science who have taught me for their generous academic support and teaching. Special thanks to Professor Allison Haga, for her insightful comments, and to my classmate Kevin for his patience while proofreading my work. In addition, I would also like to show my gratitude to the Taiwan Ministry of Education which has provided me financial support throughout my studies at NSYSU. Lastly, I offer my regards to all of those who supported me in any respect during the completion of this thesis. Kaohsiung, July 2011 -Kristína Kironská- II Abstract Myanmar, an isolated country in Southeast Asia, held general elections for the People’s Assembly in 2010, the first in twenty years and the second in fifty years. The military junta that has ruled the country for decades has been facing strong criticism from the international community. This research has systematically examined the historical development of the electoral laws and the overall electoral system of the Union of Myanmar (since October 2010 officially known as the Republic of the Union of Myanmar) during the period of 18 June 1989 up until the latest elections on 7 November 2011. Why did the military bother organizing elections? The latest elections were meant to give the impression that they would create a legitimate government. In reality, they were designed to preserve military rule under a façade of democracy. The junta learned a valuable lesson from the last free elections in 1990, which ended in a fiasco for the pro-junta parties, and did not leave it to the people's will in 2010. In order to effectively extend military rule, in 2008 the junta used a flawed referendum to approve a supremacy constitution, according to which the military automatically receives 25% of the seats in parliament. This constitution helped the junta impose several severe limitations on parties willing to participate in the 2010 elections, thus ensuring that the military-backed political parties would win most of the seats at stake. This thesis attempts to show the powerlessness of the masses against a system based on the creation of self-serving laws used by the ruling junta to control the society. KEY WORDS: electoral system, electoral law, Union of Myanmar, Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi, military junta, SLORC, SPDC. III 摘要 緬甸，一個孤立在東南亞的國家，近日舉行了一個為了人民集會的大選，此 舉為過去五十年來的第二次，也是二十年來第一次的活動。統治此國家數十載之軍 政府一直面臨著國際社會的強烈批評。此研究有系統地檢視了選舉法之歷史發展以 及緬甸聯邦（自 2010 年 10 月正式被稱為緬甸聯邦共和國）於 1989 年 6 月 18 日起 至最近一次舉行於 2011 年 11 月 7 日的選舉之整體選舉制度。為何軍政府要干涉選 舉活動的舉行最近一次的選舉是為了帶給世人他們將建立一個合法政府的印象。但 在現實中，他們的目的其實是要維護在民主外觀底下的軍事統治。軍政府從先前於 1990 年舉行的自由選舉學到了寶貴的經驗教訓，此選舉前軍政府的政黨以慘敗做收 場，但在 2010 年卻無法如人們所願。為了有效地延長軍事統治，2008 年軍政府使 用了有缺陷的公民投票批准一項至高無上的法規，根據此法，軍政府將自動地接收 25％的國會議席。此法規助長緬甸軍政府對有意願參加 2010 選舉之政黨施加一些嚴 厲的限制，因此確保了在危急關頭時，軍政府支持的政黨能贏得大多數的席次。本 論文所試圖想表達出的是，與只為謀私利並藉此控制整個社會的軍政府體系相互抗 衡的弱勢群眾的無能為力。 摘要：選舉制度， 選舉法， 緬甸聯邦， 緬甸昂山素姬 IV Table of Contents Acknowledgements..................................................................................................................... II Abstract (English)..................................................................................................................... III Abstract (Chinese)....................................................................................................................IV Table of contents........................................................................................................................ V List of Figures, Maps and Tables ...........................................................................................VIII List of Acronyms and basic information................................................................................... IX CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION..................................................................................... 1 1.1. MOTIVATION.................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES................................................................................................ 3 1.3. REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE........................................................................ 8 1.4. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................ 12 1.5. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK..................................................................................... 14 1.6. CHAPTER ARRANGEMENT ......................................................................................... 18 1.7. EXPECTED CONTRIBUTION........................................................................................ 19 CHAPTER TWO: ELECTORAL SYSTEMS..................................................................... 20 2.1. ELECTIONS HELD IN AUTHORITARIAN COUNTRIES........................................... 21 2.2. ELECTORAL SYSTEMS................................................................................................. 26 2.3. THE BURMESE LEGAL SYSTEM................................................................................. 29 2.4. HISTORY OF ELECTIONS IN BURMA/MYANMAR.................................................. 31 V CHAPTER THREE: THE POLITICAL-HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF BURMA/MYANMAR............................................................................................................ 35 3.1. EARLY HISTORY ........................................................................................................... 36 3.2. COLONIAL ERA.............................................................................................................. 38 3.3. CIVILIAN GOVERNMENT ............................................................................................ 45 3.4. MILITARY RULE UNDER SOCIALIST GOVERNMENT........................................... 49 3.5. UNDER THE SLORC AND THE SPDC REGIME......................................................... 53 CHAPTER FOUR: 1990 ELECTIONS................................................................................ 59 4.1. PARTIES AND CAMPAIGNING.................................................................................... 60 4.2. NATIONAL LEAGUE FOR DEMOCRACY .................................................................. 62 4.3. THE GENERAL ELECTION AND ITS RESULTS ........................................................ 64 4.4. AUNG SAN SUU KYI ..................................................................................................... 67 4.5. THE 1990 ELECTION AFTERMATH ............................................................................ 70 CHAPTER FIVE: 2010 ELECTIONS ................................................................................. 73 5.1. POLITICAL PARTY REGISTRATION .......................................................................... 74 5.2. AUNG SAN SUU KYI BOYCOTTING THE ELECTION ............................................. 81 5.3. THE 2010 ELECTION CAMPAIGN ............................................................................... 82 5.4. NOVEMBER 2010 GENEAL ELECTIONS.................................................................... 84 5.5. 2010 ELECTION RESULTS ............................................................................................ 87 5.6. INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE TO THE 2010 ELECTION ......................................... 92 5.7. THE NEW GOVERNMENT OF MYANMAR................................................................ 93 5.8. COMPARISON OF THE 1990 AND 2010 ELECTIONS................................................ 95 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION ......................................................................................... 97 VI APPENDICES....................................................................................................................... 101 APPENDIX 1: Basic information about Burma/Myanmar .................................................... 101 APPENDIX 2: Historic Flags of Burma/Myanmar................................................................ 108 APPENDIX 3: Key Dates in Burmese History after Gaining Independence ........................ 110 APPENDIX 4: 2010 Election Timeline ................................................................................ 112 BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................................. 113 VII List of Figures, Maps and Tables Figure 1: The Old and the New Flag of Myanmar 4 Figure 2: The Political Make-up of the Parliament after 2010 90 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Map 1: Union of Myanmar and its Neighboring Countries 1 Map 2: Areas Where Voting Was Cancelled 86 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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