Military proxy party leads in second phase of junta-controlled elections

The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and its allies are ahead in the results of the second round of the junta-controlled election, held on Sunday in 100 townships across the country. In 76 townships where results have been reported, the military proxy party won the greatest number of votes, with rival candidates attributing the USDP victories, in part, to low turnout throughout Myanmar. Voting in Phase 2 occurred across 12 regions and states—Kachin, Kayah (Karenni), Mon, Shan and Karen (Kayin) states, as well as Sagaing, Tanintharyi, Bago, Magway, Mandalay, Yangon and Ayeyarwady regions. Only Rakhine and Chin states had no townships participating in the second phase. 16 townships in Yangon were among the 100 that participated on the second election day. A USDP spokesperson in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city and commercial hub, discussed his party’s dominance of the junta-managed vote. “In the second phase, we won 76 townships across the country. In Yangon, we won 15 of 16 townships and lost only in Kyimyindaing,” said Maung Myint, a USDP central executive committee member. “There are seven townships where we lost, including four townships in southern Shan State and three townships in Mon State.” Retired senior officers featured prominently among the USDP’s victors. Several retired generals, including former junta-appointed prime minister and retired lieutenant general Nyo Saw, secured seats, according to reporting by BBC Burmese. Former deputy police chief and brigadier general Aung Naing Thu won a seat representing the Coco Islands, a small archipelago in the Bay of Bengal with many military families among its population of around 1,000 inhabitants. The USDP also won the Cocos Islands in 2015 and 2020. Sandar Min, an independent candidate for a seat representing Yangon’s Latha Township, said the USDP had won the constituency narrowly on Sunday and that low turnout had been a key factor in the results. “Participation was very low. In my constituency, more than 17,000 people were on the registry, but only around 7,000 came to vote,” she said. “The USDP came first with 2,100 votes. The NUP [National Unity Party] was the runner-up, and I came in third with 1,396 votes. The differences were very small, with only narrow vote margins separating the candidates,” she told Myanmar Now on Monday. She also believed her loss was due to restrictions that limited independent candidates’ ability to campaign freely, as well as to the larger parties’ greater organisational capacity. In Mon State, the Mon Unity Party (MUP) announced on January 12 that its candidates had won in four of the five townships where voting was held—Mudon, Thanbyuzayat, Ye and Paung—losing only in Bilin. According to the MUP, it secured at least nine seats in the lower house, upper house and state legislature. The MUP is also a political ally of the military, with several figures holding positions in the military junta. Nai La Yi Tam serves as the military council’s Mon State minister for economic affairs, while Banyar Aung Moe is a member of the junta’s central advisory council. The Pa-O National Organisation (PNO), a party whose armed wing the Pa-O National Army has fought alongside junta forces on the battlefield, fielded candidates in five southern Shan State townships in Sunday’s vote. However, based on preliminary results, the party won only in the township of Hsihseng, a PNO spokesperson said, with the USDP leading in the other four. A source close to the PNO told Myanmar Now that the party won national, lower-house, and state-level constituencies in Hsihseng Township under the first-past-the-post system. The USDP dominated in areas with large numbers of military personnel, with most votes for the PNO coming from Pa-O people. He noted that even without winning a majority in the township, the party could still gain some seats through proportional representation. The military proxy party’s other second-phase victories included a constituency in North Dagon Township, where it defeated the People’s Party, led by veteran 88 Generation activist Ko Ko Gyi. The 88 Generation refers to a key group of mainly student activists who played a leading role in the 1988 demonstrations and riots against military rule in Myanmar. Kyaw Zaya Tun, the People’s Party candidate, confirmed in a Facebook post that he had come second in the North Dagon constituency. Although political parties have been announcing results independently, the junta-controlled Union Election Commission (UEC) has not released official tallies. Zaw Naing Oo, secretary of the Yangon Region Election Commission, said the UEC would verify results submitted by township-level election bodies before making a final announcement. Sandar Min, the independent candidate who came third in her Latha Township constituency, is a former member of parliament for the National League for Democracy, the party that ran a civilian-led administration in Myanmar from 2016 until the coup of February 2021. She remarked that pro-democracy forces had failed to gain ground in either of the first two election phases. “In both Phase 1 and Phase 2, we did not see the democratic side winning as much as we hoped,” she said, pointing to the political environment and the military’s strict controls on campaigning. The first phase of the election, in which 102 of Myanmar’s 330 townships participated on December 28, delivered a sweeping victory for the USDP, and there has been little evidence of change in the second phase. The third and final phase of the junta election is scheduled for Sunday, January 25 in 63 townships. Polling will not be held in Myanmar’s remaining townships due to ongoing battles with armed resistance forces and the military’s inability to exert control and ensure security.

Military proxy party leads in second phase of junta-controlled elections

In the few townships where the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) did not come in first in the second phase of the elections, seats went to allied parties such as the Pa-O National Organisation and Mon Unity Party

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