Myanmar in 1990: The Unconsummated Election

Abstract

After the Burmese army (Tatmadaw) seized direct power from its faltering civilian cohorts in a coup in September 1988, it produced as Declaration No. 1 of the newly established State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) a unilateral political compact. It vowed that the military did not wish to cling to State power for long, and the council chairman, Senior General Saw Maung, enumerated the de facto government's four tasks: (1) maintain law and order; (2) provide secure and smooth transportation; (3) strive for better conditions of food, clothing, and shelter for the people and render necessary assistance to the private sector and the cooperatives to do so, and after these are accomplished; (4) hold multiparty democratic general elections. The general noted that the Tatmadaw continue to carry out . .. national defense ... and the maintenance of law and order after handing over power to the government that emerges after the free and fair general elections, but long-term improvements in health, education, and other social activities would be carried out by that elected government.' The four-task formula was often repeated during the 20 months leading up to the election of May 27, 1990. It was questionable whether the election was free as the major opposition leaders were successively arrested and campaigning was severely restricted in both form and content, but it was a substantially fair poll in that the leading opposition party, the National League for Democracy, was able to win over 80% of the seats contested against 2% for the parties