RANGOON, Burma — Election authorities in Burma have postponed voting in three of 48 constituencies in the April 1 by-election because of what the militarybacked government says are security concerns.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi will be a candidate in the coming vote for the first time since the democracy icon was released from house arrest in 2010. The election is seen as an indicator of Burma’s tentative transition from direct military rule.
State television broadcast an announcement Friday by the Election Commission that voting in three constituencies in Kachin state in northern Burma has been postponed, as “security conditions are not conducive to conducting a free and fair by-election.”
It said voting would be held when security conditions have improved.
There is sporadic but sometimes fierce fighting in Kachin between government troops and ethnic Kachin rebels, who have long sought more autonomy and faced increased crackdowns this past year.
The April 1 by-elections are the first polls in which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party will be participating since boycotting a 2010 general election.
The United States said Friday that it was withholding judgment on the postponement until it gets more information from authorities in Burma. The U.S. and other countries are watching the polls closely as they weigh whether to ease sanctions against the former military regime.
“We have had concerns about the violence in Kachin,” State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland said at a news briefing in Washington. “We are seeking to understand what the Burmese intentions are so that the people of Kachin are not disenfranchised.”
The postponement of voting in Mogaung, Phakant and Bamaw is a blow to the Kachin autonomy movement because the former leader of the Kachin Independence Organization, Tu Ja, is running from Mogaung constituency as an independent candidate.
Kachin leaders who tried to form political parties to run in 2010 elections were barred from registering their political parties and were not allowed to run as independent candidates.
In 2010, the government also postponed the vote in several areas facing ethnic unrest, leaving several parliamentary seats still unfilled.
Suu Kyi’s party won a 1990 general election but was never allowed to take office. Its participation in the April vote — agreed to after the election law was changed to meet its objections — is seen as an endorsement of the changes President Thein Sein has undertaken since taking office last year.
Thein Sein’s militarybacked but elected government also has negotiated cease-fires with several ethnic guerrilla groups. However, it remains at odds with the Kachin, who live in the area near the border with China.
National League for Democracy spokesman Nyan Win called the postponement surprising and disappointing, since the party considers the areas its strongholds. Suu Kyi campaigned in Mogaung and Bamaw last month.
“I don’t see any security threats in these areas because I have been there,” he said.
Suu Kyi’s party also has complained of election irregularities, including dead people still being listed on voting registries.
Information for this article was contributed by Matthew Pennington of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 7 on 03/24/2012