Inside Burma

Yangon, November 9 In the last Sunday multiparty general
elections, which is being denounced by some political parties as the
elections fraught with malpractices, Myanmar military government’s
proxy party namely Union Solidarity and Development Party ( USDP ) has
won 877 seats out of 1158 seats at stake, according to the
provisionary figures provided to @@ by the USDP.

“That means we have won by nearly 80 per cent,” the USDP spokesman
said adding that the giant party had contested in 1112 constituencies.

As for the National Unity Party ( former Burma Socialist Programme
Party of late General Ne Win ), which contested in 995 seats won 54
seats.

The NUP, which is also mostly made up of military officials of Ne Win
period ( 1962 to 1988 ) is considered by political observers here as
an allied party of the USDP.

The third party that won most seats after the above two giant parties
is the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party ( SNDP ). Though it
contested in only 156 constituencies, it won in 48 constituencies,
most of which are in Shan State.

The National Democratic Force Party formed by a few members of Aung
San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy ( NLD ), which broke away
from the main bulk, contested in 161 constituencies and came out
winning 16 constituencies.

The Democratic Party ( Myanmar ), which is considered by most of the
political observers as the only independent party as it was formed by
daughters of former prime ministers U Nu and U Ba Swe and headed by
veteran politician U Thu Wai, won only 3 seats out of 47 seats it
contested.

As for the Union of Myanmar Federation of National Politics ( UMFNP
), it won no seats though it contested in 13 constituencies. Many
believed that UMFNP is in some way or another backed by the junta.

Most importantly, political parties such as National Democratic Force
Party, Shan Nationalities Democratic Party and Democratic Party (
Myanmar ) are now preparing to put up official protest to the Union
Election Commission regarding several malpractices committed by USDP
and authorities.

In an interview with @@, the leaders of these parties said out of the
malpractices committed by USDP and authorities, the worst was the way
so called advance votes were brought to the polling stations by trucks
after midnight during the counting.

It is to be noted that all the above-mentioned figures of the seats
gained by the political parties are provisionary figures given to @@
by respective parties. The confirmed figures will be announced by the
Union Election Commission “at an appropriate time.”

Source: Inside Burma