NLD dissolved for failing to register ahead of junta-controlled election

Myanmar’s ousted ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), was officially disbanded by the country’s junta-appointed election commission on Tuesday after it failed to register for an upcoming poll.

The party was among 40 that were “automatically cancelled” for not registering under new rules announced in January. The revised Political Parties Registration Law required all parties to register with the commission within two months.

“As a total of 40 political parties failed to make such applications within the fixed period, their right to exist as a political party is automatically invalidated,” the commission said in an official statement published by state media.

“These parties have been removed from party registrations and dissolved,” the statement added.

Also on the list of political parties that no longer officially exist is the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), one of Myanmar’s oldest and most influential ethnic parties.

According to the statement, 50 established parties complied with the new requirements, while 13 new parties also sought registration.

More than one dozen parties register to compete in junta-controlled election

One party belonging to his latter group was the Union Democracy Party, which was formerly known as the United Democratic Party—or, more popularly, the Rose Party.

The party, which was disbanded in 2020 after its leader, Kyaw Myint, was revealed to be a fugitive from the law, announced last month that it was planning to re-register under a new name so that it could contest elections that the regime has said will be held later this year.

No date has been set for the election, however, as the junta continues to face fierce resistance to its rule more than two years after overthrowing the country’s elected civilian government, led by the NLD.

Meanwhile, many political leaders, including those of the NLD, have been subjected to harsh treatment at the hands of the regime.

Claiming “irregularities” during Myanmar’s last election in November 2020—which the NLD won in a landslide—the military seized power and arrested party leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of her government.

The 77-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate has since been sentenced to a total of 33 years behind bars on multiple charges and is currently being imprisoned in the junta’s capital Naypyitaw.

Scores of other NLD lawmakers have also been jailed for their support of the anti-coup resistance movement.

In a statement released last Friday, the shadow National Unity Government (NUG), which has been spearheading the movement to oppose the regime, announced that parties that register under the “terrorist” military council’s election commission will be held accountable for their actions.

“Registering with the election commission, for whatever reason it is done, is in essence giving credence to the repression and killings by the terrorist military council against the wishes of the people and siding with them thereby becoming one of their lackeys,” the NUG said in its statement.

Tun Myint, a senior NLD official, told Myanmar Now that only the people can decide whether or not a party should exist, as their existence depends entirely on popular support.

He also noted that the junta lacks the authority to dissolve parties and also has no right to seize their assets.

“The illegal coup council and the groups serving under the regime do not have legitimacy and authority to dissolve parties and seize their assets,” he said.

“If they do so, they will be held accountable for the consequences in the future,” he added.