Parties from Myanmar’s ethnic-based states, many of them heavily populated by Christians, are concerned about how many seats they will win in the nation’s federal parliament as they struggle against a national vote expected to be at least 70 percent for the main opposition party.
The ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party conceded it had been outpolled during Myanmar’s Nov. 8 election, while several of its senior leaders, including parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann, lost their seats. The largest opposition party, the National League for Democracy, won 12 lower house seats and 23 regional seats in the first confirmed results in Yangon, the commercial capital, according to the country’s election commission.
As expected, former political prisoner and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has emerged as the country’s most popular politician, but she may need the support of smaller parties to firm up a majority in a parliament where only 75 percent of seats are open to be contested. Though Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy did well at the polls in early results, the military is automatically allotted one-quarter of seats in parliament.
Tu Ja, a Catholic politician from the Kachin State Democracy Party, told ucanews.com that his party lost in the Kachin state capital, Myitkyina, but won in another regional center, Injayang.
Saw Daniel, chairman of Kayah Unity Democracy Party in Kayah State, said that his party was not in a good position, as the NLD appeared to have won in the capital, Loikaw.
He also echoed widespread concerns from opposition parties across the country about the use of advance ballots. Saw Daniel said 5,000 advance ballots arrived in Loikaw on the evening of Nov. 8 — Election Day — and about 300 advanced ballots showed up in another township.
“There is no transparency on where these advance ballots with large numbers come from, and we might be defeated due to it,” Saw Daniel said.
“The big parties … have better resources so they can support the villagers so our win is less likely. So I think that we ethnic parties will be in a struggle to get 130 seats in the upper and lower houses of national parliament,” he said.
Picking the president
Paul Hawi Ying is a sitting upper house parliamentarian from the Chin Progressive Party based in Christian-majority Chin state. He said Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won seats in his constituency, Paletwa, but results from remote villages are unclear.
“Ethnic parties normally lose in towns as we depend on supporters from far-flung villages,” he said.
Salai Ceu Bik Thawng, general secretary of the Chin National Democratic Party, said that results are not yet final, but it appears that the party lost key townships in the state.
Saw Ye Win Naing, a Buddhist politician running for an upper house seat with the Karen Democratic Party, said that the party has had mixed results, winning seats in some townships but losing others.
Some observers believe that smaller ethnic parties could collectively play an influential role in a future parliament expected to be dominated by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party and the military itself.
While Suu Kyi’s party appears to have done well, according to early results, parliamentarians must still pick the country’s next president.
“I think that ethnic parties can win the majority of seats in seven state-based regions and some 100 MPs who represent ethnic parties are expected,” said Yan Myo Thein, a Yangon-based political analyst. “And the role of ethnic representatives could be important for forming a new government and choosing a president.”
Around 1,000 Christian candidates contested the Nov. 8 election, vying for 440 seats in the lower house and 224 seats in the upper house. Some 52 Christians are lawmakers in the current parliament.
The Arakan National Party, a hard-line Buddhist Party in religiously segregated Rakhine State, said they expect to win 25 seats in state parliament. But the NLD won seats in Thandwe, Taunggok and Gwa townships in southern Rakhine, denying the Arakan National Party a clean sweep.
This article originally appeared on UCA News. It is republished here with permission.
Photo / Steve Evans/ Wikicommons
