Junta-controlled election commission amends political party registration rules

The election commission under the military coup council reduced the number of members required to form a registered political party—and the time period in which they can acquire these members, according to a report in junta-controlled media on Wednesday. The Global New Light of Myanmar stated that, according to changes made to the Political Parties Registration Law, parties must now have a minimum of 50,000 members to register—down from 100,000—and that they have “at least 90 days” to do this, as opposed to the previous wording of “within 90 days.” The junta also added clauses stating that parties’ registration would be revoked if a member of its leadership was found to have broken the law and the party’s assets would be seized. They are also now required to open bank accounts specifically designated to keep track of funding. Parties that wish to campaign nationwide must establish offices in one-third of the country’s townships, reduced from one-half. They must do so over a period of 90 days after notifying the election commission, a time allowance cut back from 180 days in the recent amendments. The changes generally make it possible for less popular, military-approved parties to compete in an election under the junta, while the country’s largest parties—including the National League for Democracy (NLD), whose democratically elected government was ousted in a February 2021 coup—have been dissolved for refusing to comply with the regime’s regulations. Any election held under these circumstances would not be legitimate, critics and activists have said, both domestically and internationally, particularly since the results of the country’s 2020 election—in which the NLD won in a landslide—were not honoured. On February 13 during a meeting with political parties in Naypyitaw, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing declared that his military council had already made the necessary legal amendments to hold a “by-election” in Myanmar, but did not specify what these changes included, nor did he elaborate on the reason or date for such a vote, typically held for a special purpose between general elections. The junta-controlled Union Election Commission chairperson and the military’s former religion and culture minister, Ko Ko, was appointed by the regime to his role after the country’s state of emergency was extended for another six months on February 1. Ko Ko, who once served as the Yangon Region election commission chair in 2010 and 2015, replaced former judge and advocate general Thein Soe as chair. Over the past year, more than a dozen political parties, including junta proxy the Union Solidarity and Development Party and the National Unity Party, have registered to compete in a military-run election. Junta officials have previously said that a national census must be conducted before new elections can be held, which have been suggested as being attempted in 2025. To this end, the military has been collecting biometric data from residents of around 20 townships since October 2023 to create electronic identification documents. Rights advocates have warned that this data could be used to surveil and repress opponents of the army.

Junta-controlled election commission amends political party registration rules

While waging war throughout the country, Myanmar’s military council makes legal changes to facilitate an election that would widely be seen as illegitimate

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