SNLD campaigners said they were not allowed a welcome procession with drums and gongs, and locals who hosted them were threatened.

Administrative officials in Mandalay’s Pyin Oo Lwin Township obstructed Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) members’ efforts to campaign in the area last week.

With by-elections coming up on November, the SNLD had planned an event on Friday in Nawng Kham Gyi village—a Pyin Oo Lwin community of more than 500 residents. The village administrator, Ko Naing, reportedly did not allow a welcome procession of Shan long drums and gongs for the delegation. Party members said he also took photos of them as they were speaking in front of the village.

After the event, quarter administrator Aung Zaw Myint also allegedly threatened local elders who had helped host the SNLD campaign.

“The NLD [National League for Democracy] and the USDP [Union Solidarity and Development Party] have already done by-election campaigning in this village. Villagers also welcomed those party’s campaigners by playing drums and gongs. There was no problem at that time. But they blocked us from playing drums and gongs,” SNLD party spokesperson Sai Lek told SHAN. “It’s threatening voters in a different way. It’s unfair. I think it’s lawless action. I oppose it,” he said, adding that if such an incident occurs again, he would report it to the Union Election Commission.

SNLD secretary for northern Shan State Sai Wan Leng Kham told SHAN that the event had been reported to the district election committee and that the party had permission to go ahead with the campaign before it was blocked by the local officials. He added that the local General Administration Department officer had said that they would investigate.

The NLD’s Sai Kyaw Zaw ran in the 2015 general election for the post of Shan Ethnic Affairs Minister and won, but passed away earlier this year. The post is now vacant, and candidates from the NLD, USDP, and SNLD are competing for it.

Pyin Oo Lwin is home to a large section of Mandalay Region’s Shan population and is therefore key in securing votes for the ethnic affairs minister role in the by-election.