A Lashio election commission representative has denied claims that the vice-president won his Lower House seat fraudulently.

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Tin Maung Shwe, chairman of the election commission in Lashio, stated that Burma’s Vice-President Sai Mauk Kham won the constituency election without the controversial advance votes from military personnel.

Sai Mauk Kham secured victory for the Union Solidarity and Development Party with 30,909 votes – however his National League for Democracy (NLD) and Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) rivals accused the vice-president of vote-rigging, as the advance votes in the constituency arrived after midnight on polling day.

In a 12 November press conference, Tin Maung Shwe stated that Sai Mauk Kham won a total of 27,109 votes – this figure is excluding the advance military votes. This put him 383 votes ahead of NLD runner-up Tun Shwe, who finished with 26,726.

The local chairman added that the responsibility for the delivery of the advance votes lies with the military units, and not the Lashio election commission.