Election
- News
Why Meikhtila went green – how USDP won in a traumatised city
In the sea of the National League for Democracy’s overwhelming victory in Myanmar’s Nov. 8 elections there was a small island of success for the ruling party. Meikhtila, a city in central Mandalay Region, had a sitting lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD, whose re-election perhaps had seemed assured. But at a polling station on the night of the vote, as public tabulation began, the name “Dr.Maung Thin” was repeated time and again. Victory for the former rector of Meikhtila University who ran for a Lower House seat for the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) was confirmed the next day. The NLD lost three other Mandalay townships, but it was the defeat at Meikhtila – where the USDP won about two-thirds of the roughly 150,000 votes for union and local level seats – that stood out. The garrison town was the scene of large-scale communal violence between Muslims and Buddhists in 2013 that left 44 people dead and more than 10,000 displaced. The electoral success of the USDP, which had been campaigning on a nationalist platform that was endorsed by radical Ma Ba Tha monks, raised questions over whether the experience of the riots had affected voters’ behaviour.…
- Myanmar
Myanmar public dismisses Buddhist nationalism with a ballot
In both Myanmar and abroad, the National League for Democracy’s landslide election win is seen as a victory of the people over the military and its ruling political elite.
- Myanmar
In “army town” Pyin Oo Lwin, NLD hopes for victory
Voting was brisk in the hotly-contested constituency of PyinOoLwin in Mandalay Region on Sunday, where opposition candidates are mounting a strong challenge to ruling party dominance in the military academy town. National League for Democracy (NLD) candidates hope to beat the region’s powerful chief minister Ye Myint and other ruling party contenders as public discontent over issues such as land grabbing runs high. Concerns remain, however, over whether the thousands of soldiers stationed here will be able to vote freely. The NLD’s Dr. Khin Maung Htay, who is running against Ye Myint for a regional parliament seat, said that among approximately 150,000 registered voters in PyinOoLwin Township there are some 13,000 soldiers. “Maybe 3,000 of them could support the NLD,” he estimated, adding that it was unclear if soldiers and their families would come under pressure from commanders to vote for the army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). The opposition has flagged this as an issue in many constituencies across Myanmar with military bases. In PyinOoLwin, the former colonial hill station, there are a number of bases and institutions, including the Defence Services Academy, an officers’ school that has long produced the country’s military elite. Khin Maun Htay said…
- Myanmar
“I have sensed the danger of an ‘elected dictatorship”
Thein Nyunt, chairman of the New National Democracy Party, is a well-known MP in the Lower House of parliament. He was an elected candidate of Thinganggyun Township constituency, Yangon, in 1990 election, but the junta refused the honour the election results. When his former party the National League for Democracy (NLD) boycotted 2010 General Election, he founded the National Democratic Force to contest the elections and won in Thinganggyun. He then established the New National Democracy Party. In a recent interview with Myanmar Now, Thein Nyunt discussed his future plans, expectations for constitutional amendments and possible troubles for the NLD beyond the Nov. 8 elections. The following is an excerpt of his interview. Q: Some people said you won a parliamentary seat in 2010 General Election because NLD did not contest. How can you win the seat in the upcoming election? Answer: (Aung San Suu Kyi) urged a ‘No Vote’ in the 2010 elections without NLD. But I won more than 50 percent of the vote in that election. In the upcoming elections, the NLD becomes my opponent. I trust on the voters in my constituency. And they also believe me as I promote their lives. They believe they will…
- Myanmar
Arakan National Party chairman confident a strong win will bring security for Buddhist Rakhines
Aye Maung is the chairman of the Arakan National Party (ANP), the largest political party in Rakhine State of Myanmar after the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party of Aung San Suu Kyi. ANP is contesting 29 seats in the Rakhine State legislature and 34 seats in the Lower and Upper Houses. In an interview with Myanmar Now, Aye Maung said that his party is expected to sweep the state, winning over 90 percent of all the contested seats. The victory, he claims, will enable the party to control the state legislature and strengthen the influence of the Buddhist Rakhines in this region, home to hundreds of stateless Rohingya Muslims and also bordering Muslim majority Bangladesh. Aye Maung himself is contesting a state parliamentary seat in Marn Aung Island in Rakhine State and is also aiming for the position of the chief minister of Rakhine State. Q. How is your campaign going? Answer. As you know, this island is located at the centre of the Rakhine State and has been one of the least developed towns in this region. The roads are bad and we don’t have telephone service here.…
