The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) Chairperson Khin Yi said that he is ready for the regime-planned elections despite the fact that the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, which governed Myanmar from 2016-21, was dissolved by the Union Election Commission (UEC) for not re-registering following the 2021 military coup.
“There are many NLD party members in the country who want to compete in the elections,” Khin Yi told the Popular Journal, a pro-regime media allowed to operate inside the country. “The UEC will approve those members who want to form a new party in accordance with the election law. The [UEC] still welcome new party registration,” he added.
A total of 53 political parties have re-registered for the upcoming election. Only nine, including the USDP, will compete nationwide. Forty parties, including the NLD, refused to re-register under the regime. Human Rights Watch called on the U.N., Japan, South Korea, India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to “defiantly oppose” any election that would legitimize military rule in Burma.
Min Aung Hlaing announced his plan to hold an election by January during a visit to Belarus on March 7. At the regime National Planning Commission meeting in Naypyidaw on March 24, the regime leader urged regions and states to enhance security measures for the upcoming “democratic” elections.
Japan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya expressed “serious concern” about any regime-planned elections, during a parliamentary session in Tokyo on March 21. He claimed that “no political progress” would be made in Myanmar until the release of jailed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, and others who can engage in dialogue with the regime, to stop the violence.
Regime media has reported that Cambodia, China, Thailand, Russia and Belarus will assist with the elections. Cambodia’s governing Cambodia People’s Party (CPP) announced that it would send observers to monitor the elections in Myanmar.
Khin Yi was appointed to the role of USDP chairperson on Oct. 4, 2022. The NLD under Aung San Suu Kyi won both of the country’s recent “free and fair” elections in 2015 and 2020 with landslide victories, but Min Aung Hlaing claimed voter fraud in 2020 and ousted the NLD government, arresting her and President Win Myint on Feb. 1, 2021.
Both have been held in prison over the last four years. Other NLD members have either been jailed, killed, or went underground to avoid arrest. Several high-profile NLD members have died in prison due to a lack of medical attention.
“We are in a transition period and this election is not the same as previous elections held in 2010, 2015 and 2020. Depending on the UEC and the [regime], the election could be set at any time, so we have prepared in advance,” Khin Yi told the Popular Journal.
The USDP was established during a previous military regime called the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). It registered with the UEC on June 2, 2010. The party claims to have over one million members nationwide.
The UEC reports that there are 457,070 registered USDP members. It allows parties to register if they have at least 50,000 members, and offices in at least one-third of all townships in the country. The USDP claims it has offices in 170 out of the 110 townships required by the UEC.
Khin Yi served as the Minister of Immigration and Population during the Thein Sein administration from 2011-2015. He became vice-chair 2 of the USDP before the 2020 elections.
He ran as a candidate for the Pyithu Hluttaw in Seikkyi Kanaungto Township of Yangon Region in 2020 but lost to the NLD candidate. Despite the huge loss of support for the USDP in the previous two elections won outright by the NLD, Khin Yi said that his party is prepared to win the next election even though no date has been set by the regime.
The USDP is awaiting UEC instructions to launch its election campaign, which will be held for 60 days in the lead up to the election date. In an interview with Russian state media, Khin Yi requested Moscow assist Naypyidaw to end the conflict, which has engulfed the country since the uprising to the 2021 coup began.
“Firstly, we must understand these conflicts are not civil war but terrorism,” Khin Yi told Sputnik News. The NLD rejected the regime-planned elections, stating that it will only cause “regional instability.” It called on all political parties in Myanmar “not to recognize or cooperate [with the regime] in any way.”
The National Unity Government (NUG) and its coordinating body, the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), have stated that any regime-planned election won’t stop the resistance to the 2021 coup and the establishment of a federal democratic union that includes all of Myanmar’s diverse ethnic nationalities.
