March 14, 2023 (Narinjara)

The Daingnet National Development Party (DNDP), a political party representing the Rakhine ethnic group, will no longer be registered.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Military Council has imposed restrictions on ethnic parties, preventing them from participating in union-level elections. However the ethnic parties are unwilling to dissolve under the new law and are still required to register.

Several political parties will be registered for the upcoming elections, including the Arakan Front Party (AFP) from Rakhine 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 made an official statement declaring that it will not take part in the elections held by the Military Council.

The Kaman National Progressive Party (KNPP) has not yet made a decision on whether to register. The Thet and Mranmagyi ethnic groups do not have any political parties that currently claim to represent them.