By Kantarawaddy Times
The Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) and the Demawso People’s Defense Force (DMO – PDF) released a joint-statement on 28 January saying that they will oppose the SAC regime’s planned “2023 general election.”
In the joint-statement, they stated that they will work against all election processes implemented by the SAC regime in Karenni State. They stated that they would not allow a fake election to take place in Karenni State.
An officer working with the KNDF Information Department (source 1), elaborated on the joint-statement, telling Kantarawaddy Times “We don’t accept this coming election in our state because it is just fake polling. Therefore, we won’t allow this fake polling to happen in Karenni State and we will oppose any election processes implemented by the SAC regime.” He added, “We also warn people to not participate in this fake polling effort.”
Since early January, government staff have collected population data in Loikaw, Bawlakhe and Hpasoung Townships with the stated purpose of preparing a voter list for the SAC election in Karenni state.
“The illegitimate SAC regime didn’t accept the results of the last general election. They forcibly took power from the elected civilian government under the pretext that there was election fraud. Now, this illegitimate regime is planning to arrange their own general election because they want to say that they are a legitimate government. I am sure that many political parties won’t participate in this SAC election,” the KNDF Information Department officer (source 1) told Kantarawaddy Times.
In the joint-statement, the Karenni resistance groups requested that people not participate in any stage of the election process including the door-to-door collection of data for the voter list, election campaigning activities, the collection of advanced votes, etc. The joint-statement requested that individuals and political parties not run in the planned SAC election in Karenni state. The resistance groups said they will take action against people who participate in the planned election in Karenni state.
“We want people to not participate in the regime’s fake election process. The resistance groups will take action against people who participate in the regime’s election process,” the KNDF Information Department officer (source 1) told Kantarawaddy Times.
