Thursday, February 18, 2010

Submission of NLD CC nominations amidst differences

 
Wednesday, 17 February 2010 21:27 Kyaw Kha

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - All the lists of nominees for the Central Committee sent by States and Division branches have been received by the National League for Democracy (NLD) party headquarters today.

However, there are disputes over the nominations made by the States and Divisions and there have been calls for reselection, senior party officials said.

There were 81 nominations in all and the lists were brought by Chairmen and Secretaries of the branches. A discussion followed submission of the lists.

"We asked them how they had selected the nominees for the selection process must be in keeping with democratic principles and the five-point principle laid down by the party," party Central Executive Committee (CEC) member Khin Maung Swe told Mizzima.

Some branches did not follow democratic principles in selecting nominees and we are worried about non-inclusion of nominees from some districts. Some districts have called for reselection of nominees, Khin Maung Swe added.

"For instance, in Chin State, some members could not attend, when invited over telephone. Those who attended the meeting selected the nominees and conveyed the list over telephone to those who could not come," he said.

The party CEC will discuss all agreements, disputes, objections and differences on the nomination lists sent by States and Division branches at the ensuing CEC meeting and will confirm and announce one at a time, it is learnt.

"Yes, it's true. There are some weaknesses in the nominee lists. Frankly speaking, our party has not had such democratic experience of the election process in the 20 years since its inception, CEC Joint-Chair Win Tin told Mizzima.

Mizzima learnt that there are some objections and differences from Taungoo, Paung De, Nattalin townships on the selection of nominees for the Pegu Division.

CEC will begin scrutiny and the finalization process on the nominations soon based on party instructions issued on January 27. It will make necessary deletions, additions, alterations, insertions in these lists besides inclusion of their (CEC) choice.

The negotiation process on CC nominees started yesterday. So far only 11 States and Divisions have been taken up. The discussion and negotiation for Rangoon, Magwe and Pegu Divisions are underway today.

Normally, the most powerful and authoritative body, the CC must elect the CEC from among members but the party has to expand the CEC first.

There were 80 CC members when the party was formed in 1990. But many of them were arrested in 1997 and CC was unable to perform its functions.