Army-backed party claims victory in Myanmar vote

“We have won about 80 percent of the seats. We are glad,” said a senior member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP),who did not want to be named.

The vote appeared to have gone largely according to the junta’s plans but fighting erupted between government troops and ethnic rebels on Monday,triggering an exodus of about 20,000 people to neighbouring Thailand.

At least three civilians were killed when heavy weapons fire hit the town of Myawaddy in Karen State,an official in Myanmar said. There was no information on any troop casualties on either side.

There was no official announcement from the junta or election officials on the vote results,but the USDP had been widely expected to sweep the poll given the severe financial,campaigning and other hurdles facing opposition parties.

The USDP was formed by Prime Minister Thein Sein and other former top military officials who shed their uniforms to contest Sunday’s election.

The USDP member said turnout was more than 70 per cent,despite muted activity seen at many polling stations on election day.

There were also widespread accusations of irregularities on election day.

“It’s very different from our expectation because of foul play,” said Than Nyein,chairman of the National Democratic Force,created by former members of Suu Kyi’s party,which boycotted the vote and was disbanded.

“We have our evidence. Some candidates complained… because there was vote cheating,” he told AFP yesterday. Thu Wai,chairman of the Democratic Party,also said the results would be worse than expected,”not only because of the advance votes,but also because we didn’t have representatives at every polling station”.

With 25 per cent of the seats in parliament reserved for military appointees whatever the outcome,the two main pro-junta parties needed to win just another 26 per cent from the elected seats to secure a majority.

Meanwhile,Fighting between ethnic rebels and government troops rumbled on for a third day on Tuesday as activists warned that the violence,which has sparked a refugee exodus from Myanmar,could escalate in the aftermath of contentious elections.

Clashes at key points along the Thai-Myanmar border since Sunday have sent some 20,000 panicked villagers into Thailand,which already shelters a quarter-million ethnic minority refugees from brutal campaigns by the Myanmar army.

The exodus underlined Myanmar’s vulnerability to unrest following the country’s first election in two decades on Sunday,which was billed by the ruling junta as a key stage in its self-proclaimed road to democracy.

Its political opponents and Western nations have decried the vote as unfair and repressive.

President Barack Obama said yesterday it was unacceptable for Myanmar’s government to “steal an election” and hold the people’s aspirations hostage to the regime’s greed and paranoia.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the voting was not inclusive enough and lacked transparency.

For a third day today,sporadic gunfire erupted in Myawaddy. Refugees told Thai officials,however,that government forces had retaken the Myanmar border town and that the fighting was likely to end,according to Thai Gov Samard Loyfar of adjacent Tak province.

“We have to evaluate the situation to see if the clashes have actually ended before sending them back,” he said.

By this morning,some 20,000 refugees had fled into Thailand,said government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn. He said the government was working with humanitarian groups to tend to them and remained concerned about the violence escalating.

“At the moment,officers along the border have beefed up security,especially at the spots where clashes occurred,” Panitan said.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military near-continuously since 1962,and rebellions by its ethnic minorities predate its independence from Britain in 1948.

Sunday’s election was the first in Myanmar,also known as Burma,since a 1990 vote won by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party,which was barred from taking power and boycotted the new polls. The regime says the election heralds a transition to civilian rule,but junta-backed candidates are virtually certain to dominate the new parliament.