Myanmar's election commission summoned major political parties on Tuesday to discuss postponing a historic Nov. 8 general election due to the worst flooding to hit the country in decades, a government official and two politicians present said. Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) is expected to do well in the poll, which has been billed as the country's first free and fair election in 25 years. Postponing of the election, a milestone in the country's transition from military dictatorship to democracy, would likely be a blow to President Thein Sein's legacy after he invited hundreds of international observers to witness the voting. It could also raise questions over the readiness of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which includes many members of Myanmar's former junta, to accept the results of the poll. The election commission invited 10 parties to the capital, Naypyitaw, on Tuesday morning and asked them whether they wanted to postpone the election because of the floods. The NLD opposed the move, while the USDP was in favor of a postponement, the three people said. There was an exchange of views but no voting on the matter, the two politicians present at the meeting said. "We invited political parties to get their opinions. The main reasons are the current natural disasters and unstable situation in the country," Zeyar Maung, an official at the Union Election Commission headquarters, told Reuters. "It is still undecided yet whether to postpone the election." Win Htein, a senior NLD official who attended the meeting, said the election commission planned to make an announcement "soon." Win Htein said that the floods, which have devastated parts of western Myanmar, particularly its impoverished Chin State, were not a good enough reason to postpone the landmark vote. "This is a false excuse, the disasters in Chin and flooding are quite negotiable," said Win Htein. More than 100 people have been killed and over 1 million "critically affected" by the flooding in recent months, according to the government and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. It is the worst natural disaster in Myanmar since Cyclone Nargis killed nearly 140,000 people in May 2008. "The postponement of the elections in Myanmar, even on reasonable grounds and by a short time, would seriously shake confidence in the willingness of the incumbent elite to further the political transition," said Romain Caillaud, senior director, global risk and investigations practice at FTI Consulting in Singapore. "It would be a paradoxical blow to President Thein Sein's legacy at a time where he is finally about to conclude a historic peace agreement," he added, referring to a ceasefire accord expected to be signed with ethnic rebels this week. The election follows a period of reform and opening up to investment in the former pariah state, after the junta ceded power to a quasi-civilian government in 2011. But tensions have been running high ahead of the poll, largely stoked by the Ma Ba Tha, an organization led by the hard-line nationalist monks that has sharply criticized the NLD. Apart from the USDP, two smaller parties, the National Development Party, led by a former presidential adviser, Nay Zin Latt, and the Myanmar Farmers' Development Party, also spoke in favour of postponing the vote, the people present said. The NLD was the only party to oppose the move, while the remaining three, the Arakan National Party, National Unity Party and National Democratic Force did not come down on either side. "We said we do recognize the impact of natural disasters and the ongoing fighting," Aye Nu Sein, vice chairperson of the Arakan National Party said. "We said it was only up to the Union Election Commission to make the final decision, not to the party." — Reuters
