Myanmar junta dissolves ousted Suu Kyi's party, much of opposition

The military-ruled government enacted a new political party registration law that makes it difficult for opposition groups to mount a serious challenge to the army’s favored candidates.

The army arrested Aung San Suu Kyi and top members of her governing National League for Democracy (NLD) party on February 1 2021, alleging massive voting fraud in the November 2020 general election.
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The army arrested Aung San Suu Kyi and top members of her governing National League for Democracy (NLD) party on February 1 2021, alleging massive voting fraud in the November 2020 general election.

Myanmar’s military junta has taken another major step in its ongoing campaign to cripple its political opponents, dissolving dozens of opposition parties including that of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi for failing to meet a registration deadline ahead of elections.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, or NLD, was one of 40 parties ordered dissolved in an official announcement by the election commission published on Wednesday in the state-controlled press. 

The NLD – governed Myanmar with overwhelming majorities in Parliament from 2015 to 2021 before being overthrown by the military – had already announced that it would not register, denouncing the promised polls as a sham. 

Kyaw Htwe, a member of the NLD’s Central Working Committee, said on Tuesday night that the party’s existence does not depend on what the military decides, and it “will exist as long as the people support it.”

“The party will continue to fulfill the responsibilities entrusted by the people.” Kyaw Htwe said.

The party, and other critics, say the still-unscheduled polls will be neither free nor fair in a military-ruled country that has shut free media and arrested most of the leaders of Suu Kyi’s party.

The new polls had been expected by the end of July, according to the army’s own plans. But in February, the military announced a six-month extension of its state of emergency, delaying the possible legal date for holding an election.

It said security could not be assured. The military does not control large swaths of the country, where it faces widespread armed resistance to its rule.

READ MORE: How is Myanmar faring two years after coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi?

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Political party registration law

The military junta enacted a new political party registration law in January that makes it difficult for opposition groups to mount a serious challenge to the army’s favored candidates. 

It sets conditions such as minimum levels of membership and candidates and offices that any party without the backing of the army and its cronies would find hard to meet, especially in the repressive political atmosphere.

The new law required existing political parties to re-apply for registration with the election commission by March 28.

The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Wednesday published the election commission's list of 50 existing parties that had registered by the Tuesday deadline, and 40 that had not, meaning they would be dissolved as of Wednesday.

The surviving parties are unlikely to pose a meaningful electoral challenge to the junta: they won only a handful of seats in the 2020 election, and most will not mount national campaigns.

“Among these 63 parties, 12 parties will launch election campaigns across the nation and 51 parties only in one region or state,” the state-run paper reported.

The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, which ran a distant second to the NLD in 2015 and 2020, registered again. The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, and NLD ally that won the third largest number of seats in 2020, did not.

Thirteen new parties registered, and the announcement said the opportunity for new parties to register was still open.

READ MORE: Myanmar elections under junta will fuel violence: UN

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