Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Three candidates to stand in Phekhon

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Tuesday, 14 September 2010 19:49 Mizzima News

Mae Sot (Mizzima) – Three candidates from as many parties will contest in Burma’s forthcoming national elections for the seat of Phekhon Township in Shan State, according to a local commentator.

Yu Jin from the Kayan (Karenni) National Party, Toat Paw from the National Unity Party and Sayar Koh (a) San Fransisco from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) were vying to represent the constituency, the analyst said.

Yu Jin and Toat Paw are respectively the former chairman and secretary of the Kayan National Literary Association and are also farmers. Sayar Koh owns the Pyokhin boarding house in Phekhon.

Among the three, Sayar Koh had the most substantial campaign war chest, the analyst said, a phenomenon reflected across the country in the financial resources held by the USDP, which emerged just before the junta-backed aggressively nationalist Union Solidarity and Development Association was disbanded.

Phekhon and Karenni (Kayah) State capital Loikaw, are important constituencies in an area populated by ethnic Karenni people. Most of Phekhon’s residents are Karenni, Pa-O and Shan, and a number of Burmese people also live there. Their main livelihoods are farm, brick and quicklime production.

The local analyst said that none of the three would win a landslide victory, and picked as favourites Yu Jin and Sayar Koh. Yu Jin is also an ex-leader of Lanzin Lunge, the youth wing of the Burma Socialist Programme Party from dictator Ne Win’s era.

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