internationally recognised principles of presumption of innocence and proscription of collective
punishments.
Although the 2020 general elections featured a large variety of candidates, ANFREL remains
concerned, as was the case in 2015, by seemingly selective enforcement of stringent registration
criteria and overly restrictive citizenship laws that establish a hierarchy within Myanmar’s voting age
population with regard to civil and political rights. Furthermore, some candidates were disqualified as
late as mid-October, long after out-of-constituency advance voting had started, which does not
constitute timely scrutiny on the part of election management officials. We therefore encourage
Myanmar authorities to enact legal reform in order to ensure a fairer, more timely, and more
transparent registration and validation process for candidates as well as political parties in the future.
31