Burmese Election Commission grants new Mon party permission to campaign

By Loa Htaw:

According to a Burmese Government newspaper on May 5th, the Myanmar Union Election Commission has granted the All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMRDP) permission to run in the upcoming multi-party general elections as a legal political party.

The party registered its 15 committee members with the Election Commission last month, and was granted permission to run on Tuesday, the Myanma Alin (New Light of Myanmar) newspaper explained yesterday.

“We are going to meet soon after we will receive the [official] letters from the government. Now we just know about the news from the newspaper,” said Nai Janu, one of the newly registered committee members.

The party will elect party leaders, discuss the design of a party flag and symbol, and draft a constitution to submit to the government during this to-be-held conference, he added,

The AMRDP was officially named and founded during an April 7th, 2010 meeting, and aspires to represent Mon State and other ethnic minority groups living in Mon-controlled regions during the upcoming electoral process. The party also intends to serve as the only Mon party to represent its people in the elections, thereby unifying the people under a single Mon party.

The Mon National Democratic Front (MNDF) which won 5 out of 19 parliamentary seats in the 1990 Burmese elections has consistently confirmed the fact that it will not participate in the upcoming electoral process.

As of May 4th, the Election Commission has granted permission to 24 parties out of the 30 who have submitted applications to run in the elections; the cut-off for party applications was today, May 6th. In the 1990 general elections, over 90 parties led campaigns during the electoral process, with the National League for Democracy (NLD) party winning over 80 percent of the Burmese people’s votes; the party was never allowed to rule the country, and its leader, Daw Aung Sun Sui Kyi has been under house arrest for 14 out of the past 20 years.