RFA provides extensive coverage of Burma elections
Radio Free Asia’s Myanmar Service closely covered the elections in Myanmar, in which millions overwhelmingly voted to give Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party a landslide victory.
Radio Free Asia (RFA) was among the first to interview Suu Kyi following the November 8 polls, and she stressed the need for constitutional reform and the implementation of rule of law to fulfill Myanmar’s transition to democracy from military rule.
In the lead up to the elections, a team of RFA journalists traveled throughout Myanmar, visiting the country’s many regions and ethnic areas, getting perspectives from local men and women, younger people, candidates, officials, and international observers of the historic polls.
For four weeks leading up to the election, RFA Myanmar also began providing its in-country audience with an hour of live daily TV coverage. During this time, RFA Myanmar’s Facebook page’s likes more than doubled to 460,000 – overwhelmingly from Myanmar residents. A Rohingya listener living in the country’s volatile Rakhine region told RFA that while he remained wary, he was also cautiously hopeful for a brighter future for his family because of the elections’ results.