Over 10% of candidates to run as independents in Arakan State elections

13 Aug 2020

Khin Tharaphy Oo | DMG
13 August, Sittwe 

A total of 386 candidates have registered to run in Arakan State constituencies for the November general election, and 42 of them are independents, according to figures released by the state election subcommission on August 10. 

The 42 independents have joined 344 candidates from 18 political parties in submitting bids to contest this year’s election for seats in the state legislature, the Union Parliament’s upper and lower chambers, and Arakan State’s Chin ethnic affairs minister post. 

Among the field, 208 candidates registered to run for 34 state legislature seats; 103 candidates registered for 17 Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House) seats; 66 candidates registered for 12 Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House) seats; and nine candidates registered for the Chin ethnic affairs minister seat. 

The 42 independent candidates include a handful of sitting lawmakers who have not been allowed to resign from the parties they formerly swore allegiance to, as well as some new faces. 

Arakan State Hluttaw lawmaker U Kyaw Lwin from Kyaukphyu Township said this year he will contest an Amyotha Hluttaw seat as an independent because he cannot resign from the Arakan National Party. 

“I have become an independent candidate because the ANP does not allow me to resign from the party,” he said. 

Meanwhile, sitting Amyotha Hluttaw lawmaker Daw Htoot May will also contest the election as an independent — for Yangon Region’s Arakanese ethnic affairs minister seat — because she has not been permitted to resign from the ANP. 

U Mya Than, deputy speaker of the Arakan State Hluttaw and a man whose relationship with the ANP has been tumultuous in recent years, said he will run as an independent candidate in 2020 for a seat in the state parliament. 

“People from Ann Township told me to contest the elections in their region, so I’m running in the election as an independent. I have no difficulties because I am contesting the election with the support of residents,” U Mya Than said. 

There are more than 1,640,000 eligible voters and 2,596 polling stations to be set up in Arakan State, according to the Arakan State election subcommission. 

In northern Arakan State, where clashes between the military and Arakan Army are ongoing, scrutiny of eligible voter lists has reportedly been low, leading to concerns about a perceived lack of public interest in the upcoming poll, which is scheduled for November 8.