Shawdesh desk:

The Government of Myanmar should amend the election law and ensure equal rights for Rohingya to participate in the upcoming national elections, said Fortify Rights today (Wednesday).

Between August 11 and 16, district-level election commissions rejected the registration of six Rohingya seeking to run for Parliament during the elections scheduled for November 8.

Five of the Rohingya who were rejected appealed the decisions and one will submit his appeal on August 20.

The Election Commission is expected to rule on their cases on August 20 and 25.

“If the commission doesn’t reverse these rejections, it’s charting an unfree election,” said Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Fortify Rights.

“The Rohingya are asking for equal rights and they deserve nothing less.”

The six rejected Rohingya candidates include one woman—Khin Khin Lwin, 43—and Kyaw Min, 76, Aung Hla, 58, Saw Myint, 66, Abdul Rasheed, 58, and Abu Tahay, 56.

The Election Commission is scheduled to announce its decision on Abdul Rasheed’s appeal on August 20, and it will announce decisions on the remaining five appeals on August 25, the three-year anniversary of the onset of mass atrocity crimes against Rohingya in Rakhine State.