The Union Election Commission (UEC) will begin hearings next month in response to complaints filed by the military’s proxy party and several voters against 22 winning NLD candidates, the commission announced on Wednesday.
The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has repeatedly sought to cast doubt on the results of the November 8 general election, which saw the ruling NLD win an even larger landslide than in 2015.
The hearings will begin on February 1 at the UEC’s headquarters in Naypyitaw. Fifteen USDP candidates and seven voters have submitted complaints against winning NLD candidates in various constituencies in Bago and Mandalay regions.
The USDP candidates said in their complaints that their NLD rivals should be removed from their seats and that they, the USDP candidates, should be declared the winners because they were the runners up, the UEC said in a statement.
The 15 candidates lost to their NLD opponents by between 24,000 to over 250,000 votes.
The seven voters alleged in their complaints that the 2020 election was unfair and winning NLD candidates broke various laws.
USDP spokesperson Yin Min Myint Swe said last month that there were about 200 objection letters against the NLD.
“Winning or losing, it all depends on the evidence you can present to the tribunal,” he told Myanmar Now. “The side that fulfills its duty to present the evidence is likely to win the case.”
Aung Kyi Nyunt, an NLD central executive committee member, said the party is not worried about the complaints.
“The NLD has never had any interest in winning via corrupted means,” he told Myanmar Now. “So we’re not worried; we believe we’ll be able to retaliate smoothly.”
He added that once the hearings start, it would become clear which organisations the seven voters who filed complaints are associated with.
The UEC received a total of 287 objection letters after November’s election. Of those, 265 were against winning NLD candidates, Aung Kyi Nyunt said.
The NLD won 920 out of the 1,117 available constituencies in November, while the USDP only won 71.
