USDP, ethnic parties our main rivals, says NUP

Saturday, 04 September 2010 03:06 Salai Han Thar San

New Delhi (Mizzima) – The junta-backed National Unity Party, which won 10 seats of a possible 492 in Burma’s 1990 general election said the Union Solidarity and Development Party and ethnic parties will be its main rivals in November elections, according to one of its leaders.

Also junta-supported, the USDP will contest in this election in sweeping manner, with more than a thousand candidates, and ethnic parties can count on local loyalties, National Unity Party (NUP) central executive committee member Han Shwe told Mizzima.

“USDP had fielded more than 1,000 candidates with election commission and it is the strong party. So our main rival will be this USDP”, Han Shwe said.

The NUP contested 431 constituencies in 1990 general election and they will stand for all legislative bodies; the People’s Assembly (lower house), the National Assembly (upper house) and the States and Regions Assemblies in all 14 states and divisions in nationwide elections on November 7. It is fielding 980 candidates this year.

“We will contest in Shan State. The ethnic Shan party led by Sai Ai Pau, our NUP and the USDP, will be the main contenders in this State. So … we must contest with local ethnic parties too”, Han Shwe said, referring to the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP).

The NUP were able to field hundreds of candidates within the stipulated time of about two weeks because it had been preparing since the government announced in early 2008 that general elections would be held this year, he added.

For any success, NUP would mainly have to rely on seats in the seven divisions (regions), such as Rangoon and Mandalay, he said. As for Karenni and Mon States, he expected wins there too.

For the remaining States such as Kachin, Shan, Chin, Arakan and Karen, the party was likely to face big challenges as ethnic parties were also contesting seats there, Han Shwe said.

The Chin Progressive Party and the Chin National Party, which will contest all constituencies in Chin State are confident in winning all available seats in the state.

Also the SNDP, also known as the White Tiger party, set to run for seats in all three legislative bodies with 157 candidates, said that it was confident to win all the seats it was vying for because it claimed the full support of the Shan people. The party will contest 40 constituencies out of a total of 55 in Shan State.

Former dictator General Ne Win led the Burma Socialist Programme Party turned NUP, which continued to stand as a legal registered party from 1990 until this year without being dissolved by the Union Election Commission (UEC). It re-registered with the UEC on March 29. The party claims it has 3.5 million members.

According to figures from the National Planning and Economic Development Ministry recorded at the time of the controversial constitutional referendum held in May 2008, the population of Burma was more than 57.5 million, with more than 27.3 million eligible voters.