Union Election Commission

The Union Election Commission is mandated by the Union Election Commission Law, enacted on 8 March 2010.{{cite journal|date=14 September 2010|title=Situation of human rights in Myanmar|journal=Report of the Secretary-General|publisher=United Nations General Assembly|url=http://www.altsean.org/Docs/Envoys%20Reports/Ban%20Ki-moon%20UNGA%20September%202010.pdf|access-date=27 March 2012|archive-date=23 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123161607/http://www.altsean.org/Docs/Envoys%20Reports/Ban%20Ki-moon%20UNGA%20September%202010.pdf|url-status=dead}} The UEC's first chairman was Thein Soe, a former major-general, an appointment that was derided by media.{{cite news |date=11 March 2010 |title=Burma laws condemned as a 'mockery' of democracy |publisher=Angola Press |url=http://www.portalangop.co.ao/motix/en_us/noticias/internacional/2010/2/10/Burma-laws-condemned-mockery-democracy,31d358ca-c3d9-4358-be56-66562c5adb05.html |access-date=27 March 2012 |archive-date=30 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430181316/http://www.portalangop.co.ao/motix/en_us/noticias/internacional/2010/2/10/Burma-laws-condemned-mockery-democracy,31d358ca-c3d9-4358-be56-66562c5adb05.html |url-status=live }} On 18 February 2011, Tin Aye, a former lieutenant-general and member of the State Peace and Development Council, was appointed by the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, to replace Thein Soe.{{cite news |last=Shwe Yinn Mar Oo |date=21 February 2011 |title=Former MP to lead commission |work=Myanmar Times |url=http://www.mmtimes.com/2011/news/563/news56301.html |access-date=27 March 2012 |archive-date=16 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110916150328/http://mmtimes.com/2011/news/563/news56301.html |url-status=live }} The UEC was criticised by various advocacy groups and the United Nations for its lack of independence and impartiality for its handling of the 2012 Myanmar by-elections.{{cite news |date=2012 |title=Burma's by-elections: still short of international standards |work=Alternative Asean Network on Burma |url=http://www.altsean.org/Reports/2012byelections.php |access-date=27 March 2012 |archive-date=2 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402220510/http://www.altsean.org/Reports/2012byelections.php |url-status=live }} The UN has also noted the UEC's failure to follow up on electoral complaints, including voting procedures.{{cite journal |date=28 October 2011 |title=Situation of human rights in Myanmar |url=https://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/C.3/66/L.55 |location=Sixty-sixth session Third Committee |publisher=United Nations General Assembly |access-date=29 June 2017 |archive-date=24 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124230630/http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/C.3/66/L.55 |url-status=live }}

During the 2015 Myanmar general election, the National League for Democracy won a landslide victory, marking a major political transition of power-sharing with the Burmese military. On 28 March, President Htin Kyaw appointed Hla Thein as the UEC's chair.{{Cite web |title=Nouvelle - Myanmar approves formation of new election commission |url=https://data.unhcr.org/fr/news/14678 |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=data.unhcr.org |archive-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329050633/https://data.unhcr.org/fr/news/14678 |url-status=live }}

On the eve of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, the military deemed the results of the 2020 Myanmar general election fraudulent, citing voting irregularities.{{Cite web |date=2021-05-03 |title=Myanmar election commission rejects military's fraud claims |url=https://apnews.com/article/aung-san-suu-kyi-elections-myanmar-cc1b225b806c27dda748d3ab51d0e47f |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=AP NEWS |language=en |archive-date=3 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203131321/https://apnews.com/article/aung-san-suu-kyi-elections-myanmar-cc1b225b806c27dda748d3ab51d0e47f |url-status=live }} On 28 January, the UEC rejected the military's allegations, unable to substantiate their claims, sparking fears of an impending coup. On 1 February, the military staged a coup, deposing the civilian-elected government. During the coup, Hla Thein was arrested by military authorities.{{Cite web |date=2021-02-13 |title=Myanmar: Arrests Mount as Protests Expand |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/02/13/myanmar-arrests-mount-protests-expand |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=Human Rights Watch |language=en |archive-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329050633/https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/02/13/myanmar-arrests-mount-protests-expand |url-status=live }} Two days later, the military junta appointed new members to the UEC, including Thein Soe, UEC's inaugural chair and a former military officer.{{Cite web |last= |date=2021-02-03 |title=Election 2020 {{!}} Myanmar's Coup Leaders Name a New Union Election Commission |url=https://www.irrawaddy.com/elections/myanmars-coup-leaders-name-new-union-election-commission.html |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=The Irrawaddy |language=en-US |archive-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329051500/https://www.irrawaddy.com/elections/myanmars-coup-leaders-name-new-union-election-commission.html |url-status=live }} In July 2022, Hla Thein and two UEC members were sentenced to prison for violating section 130(a) of the Myanmar Penal Code.{{Cite web |title=Myanmar charges three pre-coup UEC members with breaching polling laws |url=https://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/myanmar-charges-three-pre-coup-uec-members-with-breaching-polling-law-07082022055935.html |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=Radio Free Asia |language=en |archive-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329050630/https://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/myanmar-charges-three-pre-coup-uec-members-with-breaching-polling-law-07082022055935.html |url-status=live }}

The UEC's members are appointed by the government, and must meet the following qualifications:{{cite web|url=http://www.mizzima.com/research/3634-election-commission-law-in-english.pdf|title=Union Election Commission Law|date=8 March 2010|work=New Light of Myanmar|access-date=27 March 2012|archive-date=3 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403001857/http://mizzima.com/research/3634-election-commission-law-in-english.pdf|url-status=live}}

• 50 years of age or older
• a good public reputation, as determined by the government
• dignity, integrity and experience
• loyalty to the State and its citizens
• not affiliated to any political parties
• not hold any office or draw compensation as such

On 2 February 2021, the State Administrative Council, the military regime, appointed military-aligned members to the UEC:{{Cite web|date=2021-02-03|title=Election 2020 {{!}} Myanmar's Coup Leaders Name a New Union Election Commission|url=https://www.irrawaddy.com/elections/myanmars-coup-leaders-name-new-union-election-commission.html|access-date=2021-02-03|website=The Irrawaddy|language=en-US|archive-date=29 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329051500/https://www.irrawaddy.com/elections/myanmars-coup-leaders-name-new-union-election-commission.html|url-status=live}}

1. Thein Soe, Chairman{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော် နိုင်ငံတော်စီမံအုပ်ချုပ်ရေးကောင်စီ အမိန့်အမှတ်(၇/၂၀၂၁) ၁၃၈၂ ခုနှစ်၊ ပြာသိုလပြည့်ကျော် ၆ ရက် ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ်၊ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ ၂ ရက် ပြည်ထောင်စုရွေးကောက်ပွဲကော်မရှင်ဥက္ကဋ္ဌနှင့်အဖွဲ့ဝင်များ ခန့်အပ်တာဝန်ပေးခြင်း|url=http://www.dsinfo.org/node/965|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027024704/http://dsinfo.org/node/965|archive-date=27 October 2021|access-date=2021-02-03|website=Tatmadaw Information Team|language=my}}
2. U Aung Moe Myint, Member
3. Than Tun, Member
4. U Kyauk, Member
5. Aung Saw Win, Member
6. Than Win, Member

The UEC's current members, appointed by the President Htin Kyaw on 30 March 2016.

1. Hla Thein (chairman)
2. Aung Myint (Member)
3. Soe Yae (Member)
4. Tun Khin (Member)
5. Hla Tint (Member)

The UEC appointed by the State Peace and Development Council after 2010 election were:{{cite news|date=23 March 2010|title=Profiles of Union Election Commission Members|work=Burma Election 2010|publisher=The Irrawaddy|url=http://election.irrawaddy.org/election-watch/53-profiles/179-profiles-of-union-election-commission-members.html|access-date=27 March 2012|archive-date=21 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721201555/http://election.irrawaddy.org/election-watch/53-profiles/179-profiles-of-union-election-commission-members.html|url-status=dead}}

1. Tin Aye (chairman)
2. Myint Naing (Member)
3. Aung Myint (Member)
4. Dr. Myint Kyi (Member)
5. Win Kyi (Member)
6. Nyunt Tin (Member)
7. Win Ko (Member)
8. Tin Tun (Secretary)

Following were appointed as additional members of Union Election Commission later.{{cite web|title=Union Election Commission|url=http://www.uecmyanmar.org/index.php/about-us/2013-05-08-08-51-43|access-date=18 November 2015|website=www.uecmyanmar.org|archive-date=18 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118214750/http://www.uecmyanmar.org/index.php/about-us/2013-05-08-08-51-43|url-status=live}}

1. N Zaw Naung
2. Sai Kham Win
3. Saw Ba Hlaing
4. Ha Kee
5. Dr. Mg Mg Kyi
6. Sai Non Taung
7. Sai Htun Thein and
8. Dr. Sai San Win

1. Thein Soe (8 March 2010 – 30 March 2011)
2. Tin Aye (30 March 2011 – 30 March 2016)
3. Hla Thein (30 March 2016 – 2 February 2021)
4. Thein Soe (2 February 2021 – present)

The UEC has been criticised for its powers to abolish elections in conflict areas.{{cite news|url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iYm5aNyYP5Jptb530N8Rs_pAiEiQ|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120731174016/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iYm5aNyYP5Jptb530N8Rs_pAiEiQ|url-status=dead|archive-date=31 July 2012|title=Myanmar junta to hand-pick election body|date=8 March 2010|work=AFP|access-date=27 March 2012}}

{{reflist}}

• [http://uecmyanmar.org/ Official website]

{{National election commissions}}

{{Government of Burma}}

Category:Elections in Myanmar

Category:Politics of Myanmar

Category:Government of Myanmar

Myanmar

Category:2010 establishments in Myanmar

Category:Entities related to Myanmar sanctions