Election Time

In order to solidify its rule, the military regime in Myanmar has been insisting on holding elections and overseeing a "transition" to civilian rule. However, few in the international community have any expectations that these elections will be free or fair, and this is the subject of JMP's recent cartoon.

In this image, he shows a mob consisting of a general, a soldier, a nationalist monk, and a crony who are all conspiring to pressure a poor villager into "voting." In Myanmar, the act of casting a vote is recorded by having the person's finger dipped in ink, and JMP is referencing this context and then adding a further perversity to it, by having the person's finger actually being cut off by the General, who appears to be wearing an entire string of thumbs, presumably from past victims who completed the "voting" process.

One can only wonder who would win in such an election!