We’re a couple of months away away from the by-elections — taking place on April 1, if you didn’t know — which will be held to fill 19 vacant parliamentary seats.
However, as candidates begin campaigning for votes, one tricky issue was brought up at the National League for Democracy’s most recent central executive committee meeting: Aung San Suu Kyi, or more specifically, the usage of Suu Kyi’s portrait.
“Candidates have asked us if they can include Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s photo in their campaign leaflets, keeping in mind that in 2015, the Union Solidarity and Development Party also used photos of [former President] Thein Sein. However, we did tell them [the NLD candidates] to act with caution,” NLD spokesperson Win Htein told 7Day.
Win Htein clarified that candidates do have permission to use the NLD’s flag and logo in their campaigns. Additionally, he declared that the party’s official slogan for the by-elections would be the same one that they used in the 2015 general elections: “Time for change”.
Last month, he admitted to reporters that since Suu Kyi will not be out campaigning for this by-election, NLD supporters might not be as enthusiastic as they were during the 2015 elections.
A total of 95 candidates — from 24 political parties and seven individuals — will be campaigning for the next two months. Three seats in the Amyotha Hlutta, nine in the Pyithu Hluttaw, and seven legislative seats are up for grabs. Authorities have announced that there will be a total of 2,000 polling stations located across the country.
Correction: An earlier version stated that the by-elections were less than a month away. We’ve actually got a couple of months until election day; if it helps you like it did us, it falls on April Fools’ Day. We apologize for the error.
