Junta-appointed UEC disbands Mro Ethnic Party

By Admin 09 Nov 2023

DMG Newsroom
9 November 2023, Sittwe

The Mro Ethnic Party has reportedly been disbanded after failing to comply with the Political Parties Registration Law promulgated by the junta early this year.

Under the Political Parties Registration Law, parties contesting only in a single region or state are required to recruit at least 1,000 members within 90 days of registration and open offices in five townships within 180 days.

The Mro Ethnic Party, which had been approved for registration, was dissolved as it had financial difficulties opening the required offices, said U Aye Tun, chairman of the Mro Ethnic Party.

“The Mro Ethnic Party was disbanded because we could not open offices in five townships within the specified time,” he told DMG. “In the previous elections, there were no rules to open party offices and to recruit party members, so it was convenient for political parties. The Mro Ethnic Party has been dissolved due to the limitations of the Political Parties Registration Law.”

Six parties based in Arakan State have applied for registration with the junta-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC). Five of them — namely the Arakan Front Party, Rakhine National Unity Party, Khami National Development Party, Mro Ethnic Party and Mro National Development Party — have had their registrations approved by the UEC.

The junta-appointed UEC has not yet approved the registration of the Arakan National Party (ANP), one of the biggest players in Arakan State politics, more than seven months after the party applied for registration.

The Arakan State election sub-commission on September 26 said personal details such as the names and IDs of the members of some parties do not match with the information they have on file, and has instructed them to address the discrepancies.

“If a political party does not comply with the rules contained in the Political Parties Registration Law, it will automatically be void, so we have opened offices,” said U Than Htay, secretary of the Khami National Development Party.

Coup leader Min Aung Hlaing has said an election to rectify alleged fraud in the 2020 general election — an assertion widely disputed domestically and internationally — will be organised only after conducting a nationwide population census in 2024.

Widespread buy-in from the Myanmar public with respect to any future election taking place under the current regime is unlikely, with the country riven by internal armed conflict, economic crises and geopolitical isolation, and the junta leadership widely viewed as lacking legitimacy to preside over a democratic exercise of the nature it claims to support.