Myanmar’s ruling party unveils campaign committees ahead of November election
State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi delivers an opening address at the Myanmar-Japan-US Forum on Fostering Responsible Investment in Yangon on August 20. Photo: EPA. Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.
YANGON, Aug 19, 2020, The Irrawaddy. The ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) on Monday announced the formation of election campaign committees at the central and state/regional levels ahead of the general election on Nov. 8, The Irrawaddy reported.
The central committee is led by State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as chair and President U Win Myint as secretary. The committee also includes former president U Htin Kyaw, current Vice President U Henry Van Thio, Upper House Speaker U Mahn Win Khaing Than and several regional and state chief ministers.
In the upcoming election, the NLD will field more than 1,000 candidates including 80 percent of sitting lawmakers who won parliamentary seats in the previous general election in 2015.
The NLD said in its announcement that the campaign committees were formed in accordance with the decision of the party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC), made at its meeting on July 21.
The NLD’s central campaign committee comprises 31 members in total. The party has also assigned about 200 members to the 15 state and regional campaign committees across the country.
It also said that all members of the NLD are responsible for participating in election campaign activities.
Ahead of the 2015 general election, the NLD announced that its chair, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and patron U Tin Oo would serve as spokespersons for policies and election-related announcements.
At that time, CEC member U Nyan Win was assigned the role of spokesperson for matters relating to the Union Election Commission (UEC) and election laws, and fellow CEC member U Win Htein was appointed spokesperson for issues relating to the election campaign.
Then CEC member U Win Myint was assigned as a spokesperson for affairs relating to NLD representatives and candidates.
For this election, NLD CEC member U Win Htein has not been assigned a role in the campaign.
In the 2015 general election, the NLD won a sweeping victory, defeating the then-ruling, military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and taking office the following year.
Myanmar currently has 94 registered political parties. They will vie for a total 1,171 seats that are up for grabs in both houses of the Union Parliament and in the state and regional legislatures.
According to the UEC’s rules, political parties are allowed to begin their election campaigns in September.
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