Myanmar generals shed uniforms ahead of election

YANGON, Myanmar -Myanmar's junta carried out a major military reshuffle Friday t
hat retired more than a dozen senior leaders, officials said, in an apparent mov
e to prepare for November national elections.
There were conflicting reports about whether the top two junta leaders â Senior Gen.
Than Shwe and his second-in-command, Gen. Maung Aye â also stepped down from the mi
litary while retaining their respective posts as the junta's chairman and vice c
hairman. The reports could not be immediately confirmed.
Than Shwe has ruled the country since 1992.
The elections are portrayed by the regime as a key step to shifting to civilian
rule after five decades of military domination, but critics call them a sham and
say the military shows little sign of relinquishing control.
The reshuffle is the second since April, when 27 senior officials, including Pri
me Minister Gen. Thein Sein, retired from the military. The leaders are widely b
elieved to be retiring from their military posts so they can run in the Nov. 7 p
olls, the first in two decades.
Friday's reshuffle included the junta's third- and fourth-ranking generals, Thur
a Shwe Mann, who served as Joint Chief of Staff, and Tin Aung Myint Oo, who was
the army's Quartermaster General, said the officials who are close to the milita
ry but could not be named because the reshuffle was not formally announced.
The reshuffle also involved regional commanders and injected fresh blood into th
e Ministry of Defense, the officials said.
The new No. 3 in command will be Lt. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing who is chief of Bureau
of Special Operations.
The chief of Military Affairs Security, Lt. Gen. Ye Myint, who had been involved
in partly successful negotiations to persuade armed ethnic groups to transform
into border guards ahead of elections, was replaced by Yangon Division Commander
Maj. Gen. Win Myint.
Under the country's new constitution, the newly created 440-member House of Repr
esentatives will have 110 military representatives along with 330 elected civili
ans. If retiring generals run for parliament they would not be counted in the mi
litary's quota although they are likely to enhance the army's influence in parli
ament.
The polls will take place without the country's leading opposition party, headed
by detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Myanmar had its last election in 1990. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy o
pposition party topped the polls, but the military refused to recognize the resu
lts. The party expected to win the most votes this time is backed by the junta.
Suu Kyi's party decided against registering for this year's elections, which is
tantamount to boycotting the polls. The party says the election laws are unfair
and undemocratic. Smaller opposition groups are running but lack a national pres
ence.