March 14, 2023 (Narinjara)

The Daingnet National Development Party (DNDP), apolitical party representing the Rakhine ethnic group, willno longer be registered.

The chairman of the DNDP, U Aung Kyaw Zaw,attributed the party’s deregistration to its failure to comply with theregulations set by the Union Election Commission (UEC) under the Military Council.

“If you want to register, you have to deposit 100lakh kyats. At the state level, you have to open offices in 5 townships. We also have a smallpopulation. And because we are poor, we can’t get hold of 100 lakh kyats. That's why we werenot able to register. I don’t want to say anything else,” he said.

In Rakhine State, there are small political partiesrepresenting the Rakhine ethnic group that are experiencing registration challenges. due to newregulations imposed by the Union Election Commission (UEC) under the Military Council.

Ethnic political parties have criticized the recentlaw enacted by the Military Council, which prohibits state-based ethnicparties from competing in federal-level parliamentary elections and prevents minority parties incertain states from registering as political entities.

“ In simple terms, this law has removed ethnicparties from the federal level and forced them to compete only in their respective states. This hascreated a situation where the USDP, being a large party, can operate without any challengers,"said Sai Leik, Secretary General of the Shan Nationalities Leaguefor Democracy (SNLD), during an interview with Narinjara.

In addition he said,” In theunion, candidates from all over the country are half of all the parliaments, so at least 600 must compete. But inthe state, they can also run alone. Since they can run in a single constituency, they do the state’s affairsthe way they want, and then the union becomes very strict. This, in my opinion, is anunjust situation.”

According to the new party registration law, ifethnic parties are not a party representing the Union, they will no longerbe allowed to compete in the Amyotha Hluttaw and Pyithu Hluttaw, as in the previous election.

The Military Council has imposed restrictions onethnic parties, preventing them from participating in union-levelelections. However the ethnic parties are unwilling to dissolve under the newlaw andare still required to register.

Several political parties will be registered for theupcoming elections, including the Arakan Front Party (AFP) fromRakhine state, as well as the Arakan National Party (ANP), Mro National Development Party(MNDP), and Kha Mee National Development Party.

The Arakan League for Democracy (ALD) party has madean official statement declaring that it will not take part in theelections held by the Military Council.

The Kaman National Progressive Party (KNPP) has notyet made a decision on whether to register. The Thet and Mranmagyi ethnicgroups do not have any political parties that currently claim to representthem.