Aung San Suu Kyi's Party on Track to Win Another Election in Myanmar Despite Accusations of Genocide

The country of Myanmar is set to vote in its second general election on Sunday since the end of the oppressive military rule. In the first general elections in 2015, Aung San Suu Kyi's National Democratic Party (NDP) won a landslide, after 50 years of military rule and oppression. Amidst optimism and hope that the Nobel Peace Prize laureate would be instrumental in leading the country towards a smooth democratic transition, there is a shadow of the accusations of genocide of the Rohingya community.

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More than 37 million people out of Myanmar's population of 56 million people are eligible to vote in this year's general election. The 2015 polls were largely free with the exception of the army-drafted constitution that grants 25% seats in the parliament, which is enough to block constitutional changes. This still holds true. Aung San Suu Kyi's party is heavily favoured to win again, despite the accusations against her government's crackdown on the Rohingya community.

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More than 740,000 Rohingya fled to the neighbouring country of Bangladesh in 2016-17 to escape the violence imposed by the military in the Rakhine state. Despite survivors recounting harrowing tales of gang-rape, violence, mass murder, torture, and destruction, the military has denied these accusations, claiming that they were only targeting 'terrorists'.

According to John Quinley, the Senior Human Rights Specialist at Fortify Rights, the Rohingya community is still not allowed to vote and are unable to access full citizenship rights. Additionally, the Rohingya political parties have been rejected for running in the general elections.

Aung San Suu Kyi defended her government in front of the International Court of Justice in 2019, saying that the allegations of genocide were 'false and baseless', it cemented her fall from grace. Adding to the accusations of genocide, Myanmar elections will take place under the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, due to which Myanmar has been one of the worst-affected countries.

Watch the whole video here: ">Aung San Suu Kyi defends her country against accusations of genocide