Suu Kyi’s party wins big in Myanmar polls

Supporters of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party celebrate with a cut-out figure of Myanmar state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon on November 10, 2020. (AFP)
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Updated 15 November 2020
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Suu Kyi’s party wins big in Myanmar polls

  • The NLD, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, secured 396 out of 473 seats

YANGON: Myanmar’s ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party has won enough seats in parliament to form the next government, according to the country’s election commission, even as the military-backed opposition called for a re-run of Sunday’s polls.

“The results are clearly pointing that NLD is a winning party. It so far wins 83 percent of the seats we have approved. So they clearly have rights to be in charge of union government for five years again,” Union Election Commission spokesperson Myint Naing told Arab News.

The NLD, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, secured 396 out of 473 seats — more than the 322 needed to win Sunday’s vote — and claimed a “landslide” win that “eclipsed” the victory seen in the 2015 elections.

“We have a bigger and greater victory this time. We just need to win 322 seats in Pyidaungsu Hluttaw,” NLD spokesperson Aung Shin said, using the Burmese term for the 642-member national legislature where 166 seats are reserved for military representatives as per the constitution.

However, the main opposition Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) — which won 30 out of 240 seats in the national legislature — contested the results, and called on the Union Election Commission (UEC) and the military to hold an election that is free, fair, unbiased and free from unfair campaigning,” citing “irregularities” in the electoral process.

“There were many irregularities, such as the advance vote arriving late to polling stations, and voter turnout in some polling stations surpassing the actual voter list,” USDP spokesperson Nandar Hla Myint said at a press conference in Yangon on Thursday.

He urged the public to submit “evidence of the fraud” so that the USDP could challenge the UEC “through legal procedures.”

He added: “If the UEC is really independent, it should, in cooperation with the military, hold a fresh election that is credible, free and fair.”

Myint was unavailable for comment when contacted by Arab News on Saturday.

The UEC, however, dismissed the “baseless accusations,” rejecting the opposition’’ call to hold fresh polls.

“There is no reason to hold a fresh election because of the baseless accusations against the commission. We practice the ultimate transparency in every single step of electoral procedures. So we challenge them to complain legally if they have any evidence of fraud,” Naing said.

More than 6,900 candidates from 92 political parties and independent campaigns contested the election this year, according to the US-based Carter Center.

The UEC’s statement was backed by local and international observer groups, including the Carter Center, which said there were “no major irregularities” in Sunday’s polls, based on their invigilation of polling stations across the country.

“The UEC took commendable steps to allow for greater participation in a challenging environment,” the Asian Network for Free Election, which observed 225 polling stations, said, adding that the “polling and counting operations were conducted diligently and transparently.”

However, the network said that Myanmar’s legal framework for elections continues to be “fundamentally undemocratic,” with 25 percent of all seats reserved for the military and “the disenfranchisement of large sectors of the population, including ethnic Rohingya and all members of religious orders.”

Suu Kyi’s handling of the Rohingya crisis has been a litmus test for the NLD leader who is well-liked within Myanmar, but has faced intense criticism over her treatment of the Muslim minority group.

Myanmar excluded more than 1.1 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh from voting on Sunday, including hundreds of thousands who fled from persecution at the hands of the Myanmar military in the Buddhist-majority country.

The Rohingya endured decades of abuse and trauma in Myanmar, beginning in the 1970s when hundreds of thousands sought refuge in Bangladesh.

Between 1989 and 1991, an additional 250,000 fled when a military crackdown followed a popular uprising and Burma was renamed Myanmar.

The latest Rohingya exodus to Bangladesh resumed in August 2017 following a military crackdown on the ethnic minority group in the country.

Sunday’s elections are Myanmar’s second since the end of the military dictatorship.

The military, which was once considered the backbone of the USDP party, however, seemed to distance itself from the opposition USDP’s stance.

In a statement released on Tuesday, it said that the elections had been conducted “successfully,” and urged all parties to “respect the results.”

“The results are clear, and we are soldiers. We have nothing to do with elections. Now we are prioritizing the peace talks to accomplish the mission of building peace throughout the country,” military spokesperson Zaw Min Tun told Arab News on Saturday.

He added that the military had also formed a committee to “speed up peace talks” with ethnic rebel groups after the process got stalled for several months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, Shin said that once the government is formed, the NLD’s priority would be to work toward “building peace.”

“Peace is one of our first priorities. We need peace so that we can move the country forward. We have been trapped in a vicious cycle for a long time. So it is time to get out of it and move forward. To do this, we definitely have to bring an end to the civil war,” the spokesperson said.

In a surprise move on Friday, the NLD also requested all ethnic parties “to join them in building a federal union” to end the conflict.

The peace gesture was the first of its kind extended by the NLD since it came to power in 2015.

“There were misunderstandings between us and ethnic parties, and we would like to make it clear that we didn’t betray them. We would continue working with them because we always understand that we could not achieve our goal of building a federal union without their cooperation,” Shin told Arab News.

However, party leaders said it was “too early” to comment on the NLD’s offer and their “sincerity” toward ethnic minorities in the country.

“We welcome their offer because they are mighty. But we also witness their behavior of betraying us over the past five years. So it is too early to comment,” an anonymous ethnic party leader told Arab News.

Saturday’s poll results could also usher in renewed hope for the country’s troubled western region of Rakhine, which has been rocked by ongoing armed conflicts since 2018.

An uptick in fighting between the military and the Arakan Army (AA) — an ethnic rebel group in Rakhine — has left more than 300 civilians dead and thousands displaced in the region, resulting in the “world’s longest Internet shutdown” until August when the government finally lifted restrictions following local and international criticism.

It also led to the cancelation of elections in nine out of 17 townships in Rakhine due to security concerns, disenfranchising more than 1 million voters.

On Thursday, the AA declared a unilateral cease-fire until the end of the year so that by-elections could be held in constituencies. The group also urged the military to “halt ongoing offensives” in Rakhine.

The AA could not be reached for comment when contacted by Arab News on Saturday.

The military, for its part, welcomed the AA’s call for a cease-fire, and avoided using the term “terrorist” a the statement issued on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Pe Than, a winning candidate of the Arakan National party — the largest ethnic party in Rakhine state — said he hoped for the by-elections to be held “as soon as possible” as “war could be avoided.”

“Without elections and without their voices in parliaments, people will not trust the political system in the country. Some might even turn to armed resistance and revolution,” he told Arab News.

“So I hope there would be elections to give their representatives the ability to debate in parliament. War could be avoided if they have the rights to make their voice heard.”


France’s ex-president Sarkozy on trial over alleged Qaddafi pact

Updated 11 sec ago
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France’s ex-president Sarkozy on trial over alleged Qaddafi pact

  • The career of Nicolas Sarkozy has been shadowed by legal troubles since he lost the 2012 presidential election
  • Latest trial is the result of a decade of investigations into accusations that Sarkozy accepted illegal campaign financing
PARIS: Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, already convicted twice in separate cases since leaving office, on Monday goes on trial charged with accepting illegal campaign financing in an alleged pact with the late Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
The career of Sarkozy has been shadowed by legal troubles since he lost the 2012 presidential election. But he remains an influential figure for many on the right and is also known to regularly meet President Emmanuel Macron.
The fiercely ambitious and energetic politician, 69, who is married to the model and singer Carla Bruni and while in power from 2007-2012 liked to be known as the “hyper-president,” has been convicted in two cases, charged in another and is being investigated in connection with two more.
Sarkozy will be in the dock at the Paris court barely half a month after France’s top appeals court on December 18 rejected his appeal against a one year prison sentence for influence peddling, which he is to serve by wearing an electronic bracelet rather than in jail.
The latest trial is the result of a decade of investigations into accusations that Sarkozy accepted illegal campaign financing — reportedly amounting to some 50 million euros — from Qaddafi to help his victorious 2007 election campaign.
In exchange, it is alleged, Sarkozy and senior figures pledged to help Qaddafi rehabilitate his international image after Tripoli was blamed for bombing attacks on Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 over Lockerbie in Scotland and UTA Flight 772 in 1989 that killed hundreds of passengers.
Sarkozy has denounced the accusations as part of a conspiracy against him, insisting that he never received any financing for the campaign from Qaddafi and that there is no evidence of any such transfer.
At a time when many Western countries were courting Qaddafi for energy deals as the maverick dictator sought to emerge from decades of international isolation, the Libyan leader in December 2007 visited Paris, famously installing his tent in the center of the city.
But France then backed the UN-sanctioned military action that helped in 2011 oust Qaddafi, who was then killed by rebels. Sarkozy has said allegations from former members of Qaddafi’s inner circle over the alleged campaign financing are motivated by revenge.
If convicted, Sarkozy faces up to 10 years in prison under the charges of concealing embezzlement of public funds and illegal campaign financing. The trial is due to last until April 10.
Sarkozy “is awaiting these four months of hearings with determination. He will fight the artificial construction dreamed up by the prosecution. There was no Libyan financing of the campaign,” said his lawyer Christophe Ingrain.
Among 12 others facing trial over the alleged Libyan financing are heavyweights such as Sarkozy’s former right-hand man, Claude Gueant, his then-head of campaign financing, Eric Woerth, and former minister Brice Hortefeux.
“Claude Gueant will demonstrate that after more than ten years of investigation, none of the offenses he is accused of have been proven,” said his lawyer Philippe Bouchez El Ghozi, denouncing the cases as amounting to “assertions, hypotheses and other approximations.”
For the prosecution, the pact started in 2005 when Qaddafi and Sarkozy, then interior minister, met in Tripoli for a meeting ostensibly devoted to fighting illegal migration. But Sarkozy’s defense counters that no trace of the illegal financing was ever found in the campaign coffers.
The scandal erupted in April 2012, while Sarkozy was in the throes of his re-election campaign, when the Mediapart website published a bombshell article based on a document purportedly from December 2006 it said showed a former Libyan official evoking an agreement over the campaign financing.
Sarkozy has long contended that the document is not genuine.
An embittered Sarkozy would later narrowly lose the second round of the election to Socialist Francois Hollande.
Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, a key figure in the case, had claimed several times that he helped deliver up to five million euros ($5.4 million at current rates) in cash from Qaddafi to Sarkozy and his chief of staff in 2006 and 2007.
But in 2020, Takieddine suddenly retracted his incriminating statement, raising suspicions that Sarkozy and close allies may have paid the witness to change his mind.
In a further twist, Sarkozy was charged in October 2023 with illegal witness tampering while Carla Bruni was last year charged with hiding evidence in the same case.
Sarkozy’s second conviction, in another campaign financing case, was confirmed last year by a Paris appeals court which ruled he should serve six months in prison, with another six months suspended. This verdict can still go to a higher domestic appeals court.

Indian forces clash with Maoist rebels, five dead

Updated 05 January 2025
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Indian forces clash with Maoist rebels, five dead

  • More than 10,000 people have died in the decades-long insurgency waged by Naxalite rebels
  • Rebels demand land, jobs and share of central India’s natural resources for local residents

New Delhi: Indian security forces on Sunday battled with Maoist rebels in their forested heartland, police said, with at least four guerillas and one policeman killed.

More than 10,000 people have died in the decades-long insurgency waged by Naxalite rebels, who say they are fighting for the rights of marginalized indigenous people in India’s resource-rich central regions.

Government forces stepped up efforts last year to crush the long-running armed conflict, with some 287 rebels killed in 2024, according to government figures.

Clashes broke out late Saturday in Abujhmarh district of Chhattisgarh state, a key battleground in the insurgency.

“Four bodies of Maoists, who were in their battle uniform, have been recovered after an encounter with police forces,” police inspector general P. Sunderraj told AFP, adding one police constable had also been killed.

“Action is still on,” he said.

Around 1,000 suspected Naxalites were arrested and 837 surrendered during 2024.

Amit Shah, India’s interior minister, warned the Maoist rebels in September to surrender or face an “all-out” assault, saying the government expected to quash the insurgency by early 2026.

The insurgency has been drastically restricted in area in recent years.

The Naxalites, named after the district where their armed campaign began in 1967, were inspired by the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.

They demanded land, jobs and a share of the region’s immense natural resources for local residents, and made inroads in a number of remote communities across India’s east and south.

The movement gained in strength and numbers until the early 2000s when New Delhi deployed tens of thousands of security personnel against the rebels in a stretch of territory known as the “Red Corridor.”

Authorities have since invested millions of dollars in local infrastructure and social projects to combat the Naxalite appeal.


Indian forces clash with Maoist rebels, five dead

Updated 05 January 2025
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Indian forces clash with Maoist rebels, five dead

  • More than 10,000 people have died in the decades-long insurgency waged by Naxalite rebels
  • Government forces stepped up efforts last year to crush the long-running armed conflict

NEW DELHI: Indian security forces on Sunday battled with Maoist rebels in their forested heartland, police said, with at least four guerillas and one policeman killed.
More than 10,000 people have died in the decades-long insurgency waged by Naxalite rebels, who say they are fighting for the rights of marginalized indigenous people in India’s resource-rich central regions.
Government forces stepped up efforts last year to crush the long-running armed conflict, with some 287 rebels killed in 2024, according to government figures.
Clashes broke out late Saturday in Abujhmarh district of Chhattisgarh state, a key battleground in the insurgency.
“Four bodies of Maoists, who were in their battle uniform, have been recovered after an encounter with police forces,” police inspector general P. Sunderraj said, adding one police constable had also been killed.
“Action is still on,” he said.
Around 1,000 suspected Naxalites were arrested and 837 surrendered during 2024.
Amit Shah, India’s interior minister, warned the Maoist rebels in September to surrender or face an “all-out” assault, saying the government expected to quash the insurgency by early 2026.
The insurgency has been drastically restricted in area in recent years.
The Naxalites, named after the district where their armed campaign began in 1967, were inspired by the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.
They demanded land, jobs and a share of the region’s immense natural resources for local residents, and made inroads in a number of remote communities across India’s east and south.
The movement gained in strength and numbers until the early 2000s when New Delhi deployed tens of thousands of security personnel against the rebels in a stretch of territory known as the “Red Corridor.”
Authorities have since invested millions of dollars in local infrastructure and social projects to combat the Naxalite appeal.


South Korean protesters brave cold to demand Yoon Suk Yeol’s ouster as detention deadline looms

Updated 05 January 2025
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South Korean protesters brave cold to demand Yoon Suk Yeol’s ouster as detention deadline looms

  • Dozens of anti-corruption agency investigators and police attempted to execute a detainment warrant against Yoon on Friday
  • But there was tense standoff with the presidential security service that lasted more than five hours

SEOUL: Hundreds of South Koreans, bundled up against freezing temperatures and snow, rallied overnight into Sunday near the residence of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, calling for his ouster and arrest, as authorities prepared to renew their efforts to detain him over his short-lived martial law decree.
Dozens of anti-corruption agency investigators and police attempted to execute a detainment warrant against Yoon on Friday but retreated from his residence in Seoul after a tense standoff with the presidential security service that lasted more than five hours.
The one-week warrant for his detention is valid through Monday. There were no immediate indications that anti-corruption authorities were ready to send investigators back to the residence as of Sunday afternoon. Staff from the presidential security service were seen installing barbed wire near the gate and along the hills leading up to Yoon’s residence over the weekend, possibly in preparation for another detention attempt.
A Seoul court last Tuesday issued a warrant to detain Yoon and a separate warrant to search his residence after the embattled president repeatedly defied authorities by refusing to appear for questioning and obstructing searches of his office. But enforcing them is complicated as long as Yoon remains in his official residence.
Investigators from the country’s anti-corruption agency are weighing charges of rebellion after the conservative president, apparently frustrated that his policies were blocked by a legislature dominated by the liberal opposition, declared martial law on Dec. 3 and dispatched troops to surround the National Assembly.
The Assembly overturned the declaration within hours in a unanimous vote and impeached Yoon on Dec. 14, accusing him of rebellion, while South Korean anti-corruption authorities and public prosecutors opened separate investigations into the events.
If the anti-corruption agency manages to detain Yoon, it will likely ask a court for permission to make a formal arrest. Otherwise, Yoon will be released after 48 hours.
The Corruption Investigation for High-Ranking Officials, which is leading a joint investigation with police and military investigators, says detaining Yoon would be “virtually impossible” as long as he is protected by the presidential security service. The agency has urged the country’s acting leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, to instruct the service to comply with their execution of the detainment warrant, but Choi has yet to publicly comment on the issue.
The chiefs and deputy chiefs of the presidential security service defied summonses on Saturday from police, who planned to question them over the suspected obstruction of official duty following Friday’s events.
Hundreds of anti-Yoon protesters rallied for hours near the gates of the presidential residence from Saturday evening to Sunday, voicing frustration over the failed detention attempt and demanding stronger efforts to bring Yoon into custody. Separated by police barricades and buses, pro-Yoon protesters were gathering in nearby streets, denouncing his impeachment and vowing to block any efforts to detain him.
Yoon’s lawyers have challenged the detention and search warrants against the president, saying they cannot be enforced at his residence due to a law that protects locations potentially linked to military secrets from search without the consent of the person in charge — which would be Yoon. They also argue the anti-corruption office lacks the legal authority to investigate rebellion charges and that police officers don’t have the legal authority to assist in detaining Yoon.
While the presidential security act mandates protection for Yoon, it does not authorize the presidential security service to block court-ordered detainments. The service’s attempts to block the execution of the warrant may amount to an obstruction of official duty, according to Park Sung-bae, an attorney specializing in criminal law. While the president mostly has immunity from prosecution while in office, the protection does not extend to allegations of rebellion or treason.
The agency said its outnumbered investigators had several scuffles with presidential security forces that threatened their safety and expressed “serious regret” that Yoon was not complying with the legal process.
After getting around a military unit guarding the residence’s grounds, the agency’s investigators and police were able to approach within 200 meters (yards) of Yoon’s residential building but were stopped by a barricade comprising around 10 vehicles and approximately 200 members of the presidential security forces and troops. The agency said it wasn’t able to visually confirm whether Yoon was inside the residence.
The Defense Ministry says the troops at Yoon’s official residence are under the control of the presidential security service. Kim Seon-ho, the acting defense minister, conveyed his concern to the presidential security service, saying that deploying military personnel to block the execution of the detention warrant would be “inappropriate” and requesting that the troops aren’t placed in a position where they might confront police, according to the ministry.
Yoon’s defense minister, police chief and several top military commanders have already been arrested over their roles in the period of martial law.
Yoon’s presidential powers have been suspended since the National Assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14. Yoon’s fate now lies with the Constitutional Court, which has begun deliberations on whether to uphold the impeachment and formally remove Yoon from office or reinstate him.


More records found linking Credit Suisse, Nazi accounts: US panel

Updated 05 January 2025
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More records found linking Credit Suisse, Nazi accounts: US panel

  • US Senate Budget Committee says Credit Suisse concealed information during previous inquiries into Nazi-controlled bank accounts during World War II
  • Credit Suisse, now a subsidiary of investment bank UBS, agreed in 1998 to take part in a $1.25 billion settlement of lawsuits brought by Holocaust survivors

WASHINGTON: An investigation by a US Senate panel has found that troubled investment bank Credit Suisse concealed information during previous inquiries into Nazi-controlled bank accounts during World War II.
Tens of thousands of documents discovered during an ongoing examination have provided new proof of the existence of account holders linked to the Nazis, the Senate Budget Committee said in a statement released Saturday.
The bank did not reveal the existence of these accounts during previous investigations, notably in the 1990s, the committee said.
Credit Suisse, now a subsidiary of investment bank UBS, agreed in 1998 to take part in a $1.25 billion settlement of lawsuits brought by Holocaust survivors, but it has been accused of not being completely open about its past dealings with Nazis.
The Senate committee said Saturday that one set of newly discovered files, including 3,600 physical documents and 40,000 microfilms, was found to have a “high relevance rate” of Nazi connections.

Screenshot image showing a portion of a US Senate Budget Committee investigation into Credit Suisse’s World War II-era accounts, which was posted online by Sen. Chuck Grassley.

It said the revelations stem from an interim report by former prosecutor Neil Barofsky, who was fired as an “independent ombudsperson” by the bank in 2022 after being pressed to limit his investigative work.
Barofsky was reinstated in the role in 2023 “as a result of the Committee’s investigation,” and after UBS’s takeover of Credit Suisse.
In a letter to the panel released Saturday, Barofsky noted the “extraordinary level of cooperation that Credit Suisse, under the leadership of UBS, has provided” since he rejoined the company.
But he said Credit Suisse had yet to share all the information it held.
The Barofsky team has discovered, among other things, accounts controlled by high-ranking SS officers, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In his letter, Barofsky highlighted “especially noteworthy” discoveries from a Credit Suisse research department.
“Numerous client files in the sample are marked with a stamp stating ‘Amerikanische schwarze Liste’ — meaning ‘American Black List’ — a list maintained by the Allies of individuals and companies that were directly financed by, or were known to regularly trade with, Axis powers,” he wrote.
“One file bearing this stamp relates to an entity that was involved in selling looted Jewish assets.”
Contacted by AFP, UBS said it was committed to providing a complete record of the former Nazi-linked accounts in Credit Suisse’s predecessor banks.
It said it would provide Barofsky with all necessary assistance in his work to shed light “on this tragic period.”
The Senate panel’s investigation is continuing.