Myanmar: Opposition candidate attacked with machetes

By Joshua Carroll

YANGON, Myanmar

A candidate for Myanmar's opposition National League for Democracy party is recovering in hospital after being attacked at a campaign rally by men with machetes, local media reported Friday, less than two weeks before a historic general election.

Naing Ngan Lin, who is also an MP, underwent surgery after suffering severe injuries to his head and hands while campaigning Thursday evening in Thaketa township in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city.

The NLD has called for an immediate investigation into the attack. Three attackers have been arrested but it is not yet clear what their motive was.

Naing Ngan Lin’s wife told the Myanmar Times on Friday that her husband would not pull out of the election.

“The doctors told me that he will have to rest for four months without moving his hands,” Khin Sandar Win said.

Earlier this week, NLD representatives met with Myanmar’s election commission to raise fears about election-related violence and to complain about party members being assaulted while campaigning in northern Kachin state.

Campaigning for next month’s poll has been beset with a series of problems that have threatened the election’s credibility.

Voter lists across the country are in disarray, many candidates have faced accusations of vote-buying and large swathes of the country have been excluded from the poll entirely because of on-going civil conflicts.

Buddhist extremists have also been accused of attempting to sway voters using religion, while many Muslim candidates and voters have faced what appears to be a systematic attempt to exclude them from the poll.

Despite that many still expect the ballot to be the freest and fairest for decades. It will also be seen as a test of the reform process that started in 2011 when the former military junta stepped aside.

The NLD, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, is widely regarded as the frontrunner for the Nov. 8 poll, although the popular Nobel peace laureate is banned from the presidency as her children are foreign nationals.

It is the first time the party has contested an election for 25 years.