By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar –

Parliamentary election results indicate that military-backed rule in Myanmar will soon come to an end. Myanmar’s election commission made the announcement on Friday that Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy Party had won a majority of Myanmar’s parliamentary seats. The elections were the first freely held elections to take place in Myanmar in 25 years, with 80% turnout among 30 million voters.

The results of the election have not been completely counted, but the National League for Democracy (NLD) currently holds over 80% of the parliamentary seats. The ruling military backed party, the Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP), holds around 5% of the seats.

A presidential spokesman has stated that it will take at least another week to count the election results. When the outcome is made official, lawmakers will then begin the process of choosing Myanmar’s next president. Because the NLD has won the majority of the parliamentary seats so far, the party will be able to select the next president, who will then choose a new Cabinet and fill other official posts.

The new parliamentary government will not be official until January of next year. The pre-election parliament will continue to have full legislative power until then. At that point, the new parliament will choose a new speaker, who will go on to select two vice presidents and the president in March.

The current ruling party, led by President Thein Sein, has pledged to honor the results of the election. Ms. Suu Kyi is set to meet with President Sein and army Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing in Nay Pyi Taw next week to discuss the incoming government.

Even as the government will no longer be military-backed, Myanmar’s electoral system is still skewed in favor of the military. The military will have the power to appoint a quarter of the lawmakers in Myanmar’s parliament and will also continue to control the police and key bureaucratic offices.  In addition, the military’s commander in chief is autonomous from the president and the parliament under Myanmar’s current constitution.

Because she has two foreign-born children, Ms. Suu Kyi is unable to become president. There is a military drafted provision in Myanmar’s constitution that prohibits those with foreign family members from becoming the president. Ms. Suu Kyi was reelected to her own parliamentary seat for the Kawhmu constituency in Yangon, but she aspires to fill an office above the position of president and appoint the new president as her proxy. Although Ms. Suu Kyi intends to fill a role above the president, the military will still have the power to veto any proposed alterations to the constitution.

Friday marks the fifth anniversary of Ms. Suu Kyi’s release from house arrest, where she remained for almost two decades. Ms. Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest after her party won Myanmar’s national election in 1990, with the military annulling the results and refusing to hand over power.

President Sein’s government, in place since 2011, has marked a improvement from Myanmar’s international isolation caused by its military rule. Western sanctions have been lessened as President Sein has made efforts to move toward civilian-run government in Myanmar. He has initiated several political reforms by freeing prisoners, making peace deals, and relaxing media censorship.

 

For more information, please see:

BBC – Myanmnar Election: Suu Kyi’s NLD Wins Landslide Victory – 13 November 2015

CNN – Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD Wins Historic Majority – 13 November 2015

New York Times – Myanmar Election Panel Says Aung San Suu Kyi’s Party Won Majority – 13 November 2015

NPR – Aung San Suu Kyi’s Party Wins Majority in Myanmar’s Historic Election – 13 November 2015

 

 

By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

BEIJING, China –

Chinese rights activist Zhang Liumao died last week in a police detention center in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province. Police have given no information about Mr. Zhang’s death and his family has been prevented from seeing his body.

Mr. Zhang was detained during a police raid in August for “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble”. His family believes that he was detained in connection with a literary magazine that had been circulating in Guangzhou. Mr. Zhang’s sister, Zhang Weichu, told Radio Free Asia that the police department stated that he had been detained for opposing the Communist Party.

Mr. Zhang was not allowed to meet with his lawyers during his detainment, and his family never received a formal arrest warrant or any information on his detainment. Chinese law mandates that a person must be either officially arrested or freed within 37 days.

When informed of his death, Mr. Zhang’s family and their lawyers traveled to No. 3 Detention Center, where he had been held, for an explanation of his death. They requested to meet with the detention center’s prosecutor, but their request was denied. When Mr. Zhang’s family asked for his personal belongings, detention center staff told them that it was against the rules to return the items and that they would place them in storage instead.

Mr. Zhang’s family has requested a document detailing the causes of his death and has also requested access to surveillance videos of the center and his body. Mr. Zhang’s body was taken to a funeral parlor when he died, and his family has not been allowed to view it. His family has refused permission for the cremation until they have more information about the circumstances of his death.

Mr. Zhang’s family and hundreds of supporters have demanded that authorities give an explanation for his death and allow them to see his body. An online petition in support of those demands had over 200 signatures on Friday.

While China’s Rules on the Handling of Deaths in Detention Centers require authorities to investigate deaths of detainees, Mr. Zhang’s death is not the first to occur under unexplained circumstances. Last year, Beijing activist Cao Shunli died after months in detention. Similarly, the esteemed Tibetan monk Tenzin Delek Rinpoche died earlier this year after many years in prison. Both had been known to be ill, but their deaths remain unexplained.

Mr. Zhang’s death comes as the United Nations Committee Against Torture prepares to evaluate China’s implementation of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment on November 17-18.

 

For more information, please see:

The New York Times – Backers of Detained Chinese Activist Demand Explanation for His Death – 6 November 2015

Asia News – Guangdong activist dies in prison before trial: no explanation given to the family – 5 November 2015

Human Rights Watch – Dispatches: An Activist’s Death in Custody in China – 5 November 2015

Radio Free Asia – Family Demands Information After Chinese Activist Dies in Police Custody – 4 November 2015