Unidentified gunmen attacked the home of the chairperson of the Kyaukme Township Election Commission on Saturday night.
The shooter or shooters fired two bullets at the northern Shan State house at around 11:30 p.m., damaging a window.
“We turned on the light when they shot at the house. I thought it was an electrical shock. My wife told me it was shooting,” chairperson Soe Tun told SHAN. “I didn’t see anything when I went outside to see what was happening. In the morning, I realized they attacked my house.”
Local police say that they are currently investigating the shooting.
Soe Tun speculated that the attack might be connected to Burma’s general election held on November 8, but noted that he had not been threatened and that no official complaints about the election results in Kyaukme had been filed.
However, the attack occurred on the same day that the election commission had declared that the candidate for the National League for Democracy (NLD) had won an Upper House seat in Kyaukme District.
Chairperson Soe Tun’s brother, Tun Tun Hein is an NLD leader and the current deputy speaker of the Lower House. Tun Tun Hein was also re-elected in Nawngkhio Township.
Soe Tun also highlighted discontent surrounding the cancelation of voting in some village tracts in the township by the Union Election Commission, citing “instability,” due to clashes earlier this year between the Burma Army and the Restoration Council of Shan State. Voting was fully canceled in six townships in Shan State and partially canceled in 17 townships, including Kyaukme.
The UEC announced Saturday that the ruling NLD won the majority of contested seats throughout the country—396 out of 498.
