Karen News

There was great frustration suffered in many constituencies where the 4 separate ethnic Karen parties: The Phalon-Sawow Democratic Party, the Karen National Democratic Party (KNDP) based in Karen State and Karen People’s Party (KPP) based in Yangon Region and the Karen National Party (KNP) based in Ayeyawady Region all split the vote that help the 2 big parties especially the…

While many objective factors put ethnic parties at a severe disadvantage such as the campaign restrictions imposed by covid- 19, but in Karen State, the lack of unity between ethnic Karen parties and failure to form any kind of tactical merger of coalition clearly lost them a good number of seats. By contrast, the most successful merger of different parties…

The patient is currently only identified by health workers as a 48-year male with four family members in Umpheim Mai refugee camp. The man returned to the camp on November 4 without informing related camp officials or health workers. He turned up at the camp’s health facility on November 19 with symptoms and the resulting Covid-19 tests proved to be…

This comes after candidate Saw Myint Han from the KNDP lost to candidate Nan Moe Moe Htwe from the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), by five votes, in the upper house constituency-9 in Karen State. Four candidates competed in the constituency. Nan Moe Moe Htwe from the NLD secured 20,146 votes, Saw Myint Han from the KNDP, 20,141 votes,…

“On the evening of November 9, the township election sub-commission released the lists of elected candidates. The candidates have signed Form-19,” said Naw Khayit Tun, a candidate from the NLD who has secured the upper house seat. The KPP lost the seat in Karen State Constituency-2 in the 2020 General Election due to the share of votes with the Kayan…

Naw Wah Ku Shee, Coordinator with the Karen Peace Support Network (KPSN) told Karen News without changes to the 2008 Constitution the military retain its stranglehold on the political process. “I don’t have much hope [on the election] because this will still be under the 2008 constitution. Even a strong party like the NLD couldn’t make any significant changes during…

The announcement was made after the UNDP’s transcript submitted to the Union Election Commission (UEC) about their policies and position was edited. David Hla Myint, chairperson of the UNDP told Karen News they did not want their party’s policies and position to be compromised. “We don’t want the Union Election Commission to edit the policies of any political party in…

On October 1, 2020, the Burma Army’s Tatmadaw Information Team reported they had arrested two people involved in the killing of its two soldiers and accused them of also planting booby traps under the corpses that killed another three soldiers and wounded five more. The Tatmadaw Information Team said initial interrogation had uncovered the two killers are soldiers from the…

By Sa Isue Villagers told Karen News, Tamadaw (Burma Army) soldiers came to the area on February 17, this year and are now permanent in two areas locally know as Lu Koh Hta and Kler Klo. Villagers fear as these two areas are located in the Palu Village Tract of Myawaddy Township and are under the control of two Karen…

By Laeyudra Greely* For the past few decades, after the birth of the Karen revolution and its founders’ failure to accomplish its sole purpose of securing the sovereignty of Kawthoolei within their lifetime, there has been little progress, if any at all. With the Karen plight so prolonged to the point where it became the world’s longest ongoing conflict, the…