Resistance forces in Myanmar detain a candidate in this month’s election, state media report

BANGKOK (AP) — An election candidate in the strife-torn nation of Myanmar has been detained by a resistance group opposed to army rule, state media reported Wednesday, the first known such action before the polls scheduled for later this month.

The detention of Wai Lin Htet, 37, a candidate of the Shan and Nationalities Democratic Party, highlights ongoing tensions in Myanmar, where local resistance groups clash with the military government as it tries to hold the Dec. 28 election.

The Magway region has been one of the strongholds of armed resistance since the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. After peaceful demonstrations were put down with lethal force, many opponents of military rule took up arms, forming the People’s Defense Force, which is now engaged in combat in many areas of the country.

Critics have denounced the election plan as a sham to normalize the military takeover, and several opposition organizations, including armed resistance groups, have said they will try to derail them.

Jeremy Laurence, a spokesperson for the U.N.’s human rights office, warned last Friday that the ballot would be conducted in an environment “rife with threats and violence” and actively suppressed political participation.

A report in the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper said that Wai Lin Htet was detained at 3 p.m. on Saturday by three members of a local resistance group who arrived on two motorbikes, while he was at home with his family in Pakokku Township, in central Myanmar’s Magway Region.

It identified the three as members of the People’s Defense Force, whose many local and regional forces make up the armed wing of the pro-democracy movement battling the army. The unit responsible for his detention wasn’t further identified, and there were no public statements about the action.

The report said that authorities were seeking the arrest of the three under a section of a new electoral law that carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison for detaining a parliamentary candidate and preventing him from conducting election activities.

According to reports from local media, including the online news site Myanmar Now, nearly 100 people, including film directors, have been arrested under the election law since it was enacted in July, and some of them have received sentences of up to 49 years in prison.

Sai Ai Pao, chairman of the Shan and Nationalities Democratic Party — also known as the White Tiger Party, and one of six parties contesting the polls nationwide — refused to comment to The Associated Pres about the incident because of concerns about the candidate’s safety.

The Shan and Nationalities Democratic Party, once a small ethnic party based in Shan and Kachin states in previous elections, is now competing nationwide with more than 580 candidates, making it the fifth-largest of the six parties competing nationwide. It’s not considered explicitly pro- or anti-military, but its participation in the election gives the impression it is allied with the army.