Suspended members of the Yangon City Development Committee yesterday agreed to step down, following extraordinary scenes at City Hall on Tuesday night, when they clashed with security.
Eight current committee members, elected in 2014, were told by Yangon Region Chief Minister Phyo Min Thein that new regulations had been introduced meaning their terms ended on March 30, when the new national government took over, instead of when new YCDC elections are called.
Initially, they refused to leave and had an altercation with security during a press conference held by Mayor Maung Maung Soe on Tuesday.
But by yesterday evening, the suspended members had packed and left, the Myanmar Times reported.
“We don’t want to go against the government,” said elected member Khin Hlaing. “We don’t want to go against the chief minister’s instruction.”
The YCDC members were elected in 2014, the first time polls had been held in 50 years.
“Is it dictatorship or democracy to terminate YCDC members who were assigned by election?,” Min Min Tun, chair of the Latha Township City Development Committee. “It would be better if the chief minister could announce the exact date of the next YCDC election.”
Maung Maung Soe said he intended to form an election commission first, and then hold a vote.
“What we have done is according to the law,” he said. “If something is done forcibly by power, there won’t be development. The government and YCDC members will have to resolve this dispute. What happened yesterday [May 17] is not fair. It looks like a coup. I feel so sorry.”
