More than 90 parties took part in elections in Myanmar on November 8 for a national parliament and assemblies in 14 states and regions, billed as the country’s first free and fair polls in 25 years.More than 6,000 candidates are competing for 1,171 seats in all assemblies. The national parliament has 664 seats, including 166 reserved for military appointees under a constitution drafted under military rule. It will elect the president who will form a government.
Below are some details of the parties fielding the most candidates--
Union Solidarity & Development Party (USDP)
Set up under military rule, the USDP is packed with former junta members and powerful tycoons keen on maintaining close ties with a new government which is likely to press ahead with privatisation.
National League for Democracy (NLD)
Myanmar’s largest opposition party won a 1990 election but was denied power by the military. It boycotted the 2010 vote, but after Suu Kyi’s release from house arrest, it took part in by-elections in 2012, winning all but two seats. The party is expected to do well thanks to Suu Kyi’s popularity, but it is the parliament-appointed president who will form the government. Whether the NLD will have enough seats to elect its candidate president is not clear. Suu Kyi is banned from becoming president by the constitution because her two children are British.
National Unity Party (NUP)
NUP leaders are former generals and it is fielding 763 candidates, the third-largest number. The NUP has made pledges to prevent cronyism and help poor farmers.
National Development Party (NDP)
The NDP is led by a former adviser to President Thein Sein, Nay Zin Latt, and is seen as close to the administration. It has put up 354 candidates, the fourth-highest number. Most of its members are technocrats.
National Democratic Force (NDF)
The NDF is led by renegade members of the NLD, who split after Suu Kyi boycotted the 2010 election, when the NDF portrayed itself as the only opposition to the junta. The party won 16 seats in 2010 and has registered 274 candidates this time, making it the fifth-biggest party by number of candidates.
Ethnic Shan parties
Perhaps the most influential of various ethnic minority parties, Shan parties are pushing for amendment of the constitution and more autonomy for their state. Shan people are the second-biggest ethnic group after majority Burmans, The parties are fielding candidates outside Shan State, including in constituencies in the cities of Yangon and Mandalay.
Arakan National Party (ANP)
Two parties in Rakhine State merged to set up the ANP in 2014, tapping anti-Muslim sentiment after sectarian violence in 2012. The hardline Buddhist party has campaigned to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Rohingya voters and lobbied to exclude Rohingya candidates from the election. The party has 77 candidates, including 63 in Rakhine State, and looks to win all those seats, which would make it a major force in the state and one of the most powerful minority parties in the national assembly.
