NLD letter to ethnic political parties delayed by COVID-19, party says

By Min Tun 25 Nov 2020

Min Tun | DMG
25 November 2020, Sittwe 

A National League for Democracy (NLD) letter inviting the cooperation of ethnic people has not arrived to certain ethnic political parties, with delays due to COVID-19, according to NLD spokesperson Dr. Myo Nyunt. 

“This is an open letter and it was announced online. And then, we sent it through the postal service with registration. However, the postal service has been much delayed. The system goes through township level and then to district offices and then to States and Regions. So, it is quite slow,” he said. 

Fresh off elections will deliver a second term for the ruling NLD government, the party reached out to 48 of Myanmar’s ethnic political parties in an open letter dated November 12, inviting cooperation to achieve what it says are shared goals, including the establishment of a federal union. 

Some political parties had not received the letter as of November 24, including the Arakan National Party (ANP), Arakan Front Party (AFP) and Arakan League for Democracy (ALD), according to the respective parties. 

The parties said they would not provide opinions on the letter at the moment, having not yet received a hard copy. 

The open letter, which circulated online this month, noted that while some political parties expressed satisfaction with the election results in the country’s states, which are largely populated by ethnic minorities, there has also been discontent among some parties.  

“It is good that ethnic parties have been invited into the democractic transition period. In the past, there were just words that discussions would be made with ethnic parties. However, it didn’t happen practically after the NLD government took office [in 2016]. Now, we see it is good if it is done in reality,” said the AFP’s patron, U Kyaw Lwin.  

The 48 ethnic political parties to whom the letter was addressed include the ANP, AFP, and ALD, and other Arakan State parties such as the Khami National Development Party; Rakhine State National Force Party, Mro National Party; Khumi (Khami) National Party; Mro National Democracy Party; Daingnet National Development Party; and Mro National Development Party.