Junta proxy USDP campaigns for mainland Arakanese votes 

By Admin 17 Oct 2025

DMG Newsroom 

17 October 2025, Yangon
 
Members of the regime proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) are reportedly campaigning for the junta-sponsored election slated for December 28, targeting Arakanese people who have fled to mainland Myanmar due to military conflict in Arakan State and other reasons.
 
The USDP has been campaigning for the votes of Arakanese people in Yangon and Ayeyarwady regions since the first week of October.
 
“USDP members told Arakanese people to check the voter lists, to make the right choice when casting their votes in the election, and to always be kind to the suffering Arakanese people and to convince them to vote,” said an Arakanese man in Yangon’s Hlaingthayar Township.
 
USDP members are reportedly organising private appointments for Arakanese people to come to ward administration offices, promising to provide household certificates and ID cards — and seeking to secure promises of votes for the USDP in the election.
 
The USDP’s campaign outreach to Arakanese people living in townships such as Hlaingthayar, Tamwe, Thingangyun, Thaketa, and Hlaing in Yangon Region began the first week of October.
 
The USDP is also campaigning for the votes of Arakanese people who were displaced by the fighting and are currently taking refuge in Ayeyarwady Region’s Pathein and Thabaung townships.
 
“I went to a meeting about the voter list because junta officials called me because they thought displaced people should also vote in the election. What’s the problem? This is a meeting that is targeting Arakanese people and is directly and indirectly campaigning for the election,” said an Arakanese woman living in Pathein Township.
 
The junta-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC) has announced that the official campaign period for the upcoming elections will span 60 days, from October 28 to December 26, making the USDP’s activities at least questionable, if not clearly in violation of the specified campaign window.
 
“In addition to campaigning in advance for this election, where the USDP candidate is the only one aiming to become president, the USDP is already planning to win by rigging the vote if it doesn’t win votes by mobilising voters,” said a young Arakanese man in Yangon who is monitoring the election preparations. “The election law is a complete joke [favouring] the USDP, which is made up of soldiers.”
 
The USDP was formed as a political party by military personnel in 2010, and pro-democracy activists have criticised the party for being formed to serve the interests of the military dictatorship and crony businessmen.

The military regime is planning to hold elections in December and January 2026, with the first round of voting scheduled for December 28 in 102 townships.
 
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has claimed that the second round of elections will be held in 100 townships and the remaining townships in a third round, with by-elections being held in the remaining townships.
 
More than 5,000 candidates from 57 political parties, including six political parties competing nationwide and 51 political parties competing in states and regions, will compete in the election to be held on December 28.
 
Anti-regime forces have issued statements opposing the election, describing the junta-organised poll as a sham that is complicating the political aspirations of the entire country.
 
At a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of signing the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) earlier this month, Min Aung Hlaing said that he believes the upcoming elections will be free and fair.