Military proxy USDP gains two more seats after opposition MPs removed

Myanmar’s junta-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC) has removed two regional lawmakers from a party led by former 88 Generation student leader Ko Ko Gyi, handing their seats to candidates from the military’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). The UEC announced on Monday that Khaing Oo and Tin Soe of the People’s Party would no longer be recognised as members of the Tanintharyi Region parliament from September 7. The decision further strengthens the dominance of the USDP in a political system systematically reshaped by the military since its 2021 coup. Since seizing power, the military has abolished or forced out major political parties that once competed with the USDP, including Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) and the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), while imposing new registration requirements and holding elections under rules set by military-controlled authorities. The result is a system increasingly resembling one-party rule: smaller parties continue to exist and hold some seats, but the USDP has emerged as the overwhelmingly dominant national party in a political landscape from which its most powerful competitors have been eliminated. The latest ruling gives the USDP another two seats at the expense of one of the few remaining parties represented in the military-created political system. Khaing Oo, a People’s Party candidate in his 30s and a retired army major, won a Tanintharyi Region parliament seat representing Myeik Township under the first-past-the-post system. His defeated USDP rival Win Kyaw, a former Tanintharyi regional minister under President Thein Sein’s administration, subsequently challenged the result. According to a senior People’s Party official who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity, Win Kyaw accused Khaing Oo of violating election regulations by campaigning with a vehicle convoy despite a UEC prohibition on such activities. The case was initially heard by the regional election commission, which ruled in Khaing Oo’s favour. Win Kyaw appealed to the UEC in Naypyitaw, however, and the military-appointed commission overturned the earlier decision. The People’s Party official questioned why the USDP had pursued the case so aggressively when it already controlled an overwhelming share of seats. “The USDP has already won so many seats. Why are they going after this one person so persistently?” the official said. The official said the party had expected Khaing Oo to lose once the case reached the UEC in Naypyitaw. “He was a minister and then lost the election. Was he determined to claw his way back into this seat by getting the winner thrown out?” the official said of Win Kyaw. The consequences extended beyond Khaing Oo’s constituency. After invalidating his votes, the UEC recalculated the total votes cast for the People’s Party across the relevant constituencies in Tanintharyi Region. That calculation also cost Tin Soe, another People’s Party lawmaker representing Launglon Township, his seat under the proportional representation system. Under the system used to allocate proportional-representation seats in regional and state parliaments, seats are calculated according to the total number of votes won by each party across a region or designated group of constituencies. Removing Khaing Oo’s votes therefore reduced the People’s Party’s overall vote total enough to change the allocation of a second seat. The UEC announced that Myat Myat Sein of the USDP would replace Tin Soe as the No. 2 proportional-representation representative for Launglon Township. The two removals reduce the People’s Party’s representation from 30 seats won in the military-organised election to 28, according to the party official. Myanmar Now attempted to contact UEC spokesperson Khin Maung Oo about the rulings and the election challenge, but his phone was switched off. People’s Party leader Ko Ko Gyi campaigns in Yangon in late 2025 (Photo: Myanmar Now) One-party dominance takes shape The People’s Party is headed by Ko Ko Gyi, one of the best-known former leaders of Myanmar’s 1988 pro-democracy uprising. Ko Ko Gyi himself contested a Lower House seat in Yangon’s Lanmadaw Township during the third phase of the military-organised election on January 25 but lost. Following his defeat, he was appointed to the military-created Union Consultative Council in Naypyitaw. The council, headed by a former deputy commander-in-chief, has little substantive authority and has largely served as a landing place for former junta officials and other figures who were not given positions in the new cabinet or parliament. Such appointments allow those sidelined in the post-election redistribution of positions to retain an official title and public status despite losing access to meaningful political power. Ko Ko Gyi’s appointment therefore did not compensate his party for its weak showing in an electoral system overwhelmingly dominated by the military establishment. The military organised the election in three phases across 263 townships, amid an ongoing civil war and with large parts of the country outside its control. The USDP, which was created by former military rulers and remains closely tied to the armed forces, emerged with by far the largest number of seats. Its dominance followed years in which the military dismantled much of Myanmar’s pre-coup political landscape. The NLD, which overwhelmingly defeated the USDP in both the 2015 and 2020 elections, was dissolved by the military-controlled election authorities in 2023. Numerous other parties were subsequently abolished, restricted, or marginalised, leaving the USDP as the military establishment’s principal political vehicle and the dominant national party operating within the system constructed after the coup. But the USDP’s electoral dominance has not translated into control over the new administration. Khin Yi, the party’s chair and a former brigadier general and national police chief who served as a minister under both Thein Sein and the post-coup junta, was passed over for the presidency and instead became speaker of the lower house. The USDP received the vice presidency and only five ministerial posts in an administration comprising 30 ministries. Min Aung Hlaing instead assumed the presidency after the election, formally exchanging his position as military chief for a civilian-styled office while remaining at the centre of the political system. Min Aung Hlaing is seeking greater control over the USDP even as the military proxy party further consolidates its dominance over Myanmar’s increasingly restricted political system.

Military proxy USDP gains two more seats after opposition MPs removed

The move further strengthens the party’s dominance as the regime eliminates rivals and sharply restricts political competition

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