Junta-appointed UEC approves two political parties from Arakan State

By Admin 03 May 2023

DMG Newsroom
3 May 2023, Sittwe

The junta-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC) announced that it has approved the registrations of the Arakan Front Party (AFP) and Rakhine State National Unity Party (RSNUP) for the election being planned by Myanmar’s military regime.

The UEC announced on May 2 that the AFP and RSNUP have been allowed to continue standing in accordance with Section 9 of the new Political Parties Registration Law. The two organisations are the first political parties based in Arakan State whose registrations under the new law have been approved.

The Political Parties Registration Law, promulgated by the regime in late January, requires political parties to re-register with the junta’s UEC or face dissolution.

Fifty pre-existing political parties have registered with the junta’s UEC and six of them are from Arakan State. Among the political parties based in Arakan State that have registered with the UEC are the Arakan National Party, Arakan Front Party, Khami National Development Party, Mro Ethnic Party, Mro National Development Party and Rakhine State National Unity Party.

Junta spokesman Major-General Zaw Min Tun told the press on March 27 that the regime still could not fix a date for its election because of security conditions in Myanmar. The following day, it announced that 40 political parties including the National League for Democracy (NLD) — which won landslide victories in the country’s past two general elections — had been dissolved for failing to register.

While the regime has not yet declared a date for its proposed election, international expectations and domestic interest in the poll are low. Political observers say a nationwide vote is highly unlikely under the current situation in Myanmar, where armed resistance to the military regime remains robust and widespread more than two years after the February 2021 coup.