Narinjara News, 25 March 2023
Mro Ethnic Party in Rakhine State has applied for registration as a new political party under UnionElection Commission (UEC) of Myanmar.

The military regime-run newspaper Myanmar Light reportedthat the Mroethnic party has recently appliedfor registration.

Mro Ethnic Party chairman U Aye Tun informed Narinjara Newsthat they took the decision torepresent the Mro people and finally to enable dialogues with otherpolitical parties and military government.

"The purpose of re-registration is to represent our ethnic group in a proper forum. Moreover, we need to talkto the government for various Mro people initiatives. It is also about organizingour own people within theframework of the law and establishing a party," he added.

Even applying for a new party registration, the party will decide later whether they would contest or notin the elections conducted by theUEC.

"UEC has not yet announced anything about the election. So, we have not decided whether to participate inthe elections or not," he asserted.

Soon after the UEC issued a new set of guidelines for the political party’s registration process on 26January, it invited parties to applyunder the new laws.

The military council's statement also stated that the parties must apply for registration within 60 daysfrom 31 January last, otherwise theirstatus will be cancelled as political parties.

Till date, Rakhine State Party (led by Dr Aye Maung),  ArakanNational Party,  KhamiNational Development Party,  Rakhine National United Party and Myo Ethnic Party have appliedfor their re-registration.
Rakhine League for Democracy has decided not to register with the UEC.

The EUC has not yet announced any date of polls till now, but many polling stations have been set up inRakhine State. State election commissionsub-secretary U Thurin Htun informed Narinjara News that the process of publishing the voter’s list has already started.