Seminar on Myanmar ‘sham’ elections at Chiang Mai University

Myanmar human rights expert and the founder of civil society group Progressive Voice, Khin Ohmar, speaks at the public seminar on “Sham Election in Myanmar: A Transition or a way backward” at Chiang Mai University on Nov. 11. (Credit: DVB)

A public seminar called “Sham Election in Myanmar: A Transition or A Way Backward” was organized by the Regional Center for Sustainable Development (RCSD), in collaboration with Burma Concern, at Chiang Mai University (CMU) in northern Thailand on Nov. 11.

“It’s very clear everybody is on the same page when it comes to this military’s staged sham election,” said Khin Ohnmar, the founder of civil society group Progressive Voice and a panelist at the seminar.

“This bottom-up federal democracy framework that everybody is advancing and working on, such as establishing the administrations and local democratic governance structures, interim governments, these all themselves are already automatically delegitimizing the election,” she added.

Besides Khin Ohmar, the executive director of an open data project on Myanmar’s parliament Htin Kyaw Aye, and professor at Thailand’s Kasetsart University Lalita Hanwong were also panelists. Sirada Khemmanitthathai, a professor at the CMU Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration, moderated the seminar.

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