2020 Election

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…

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…

The two political parties based in Karen State made their claims after the Union Election Commission announced on July 1 that the upcoming 2020 election would be held on November 8, 2020. Mahn Aung Pyi Soe, chairperson of the Karen National Democratic Party (KNDP) said. “We haven’t yet seen any official rules or regulation for campaigning in the 2020 election.…

Karen State Election Commission data for the period between January 2019 to January 2020 showed the total of eligible voters registered as 1,100,000 – excluding eligible voters in the military. Sa Kyaw Swa, vice chairperson of the Karen National Democratic Party (KNDP) in Kyainseikgyi Township told Karen News people in his area were excluded from the two previous elections. “In…

The ministers, Saw Aung Myint Khaing, Karen Ethnic Affair Minister for Mon State and Naw Pann Thinzar Myo, Karen Ethnic Affair Minister for the Yangon Region told Karen News they didn’t submit their applications to the NLD for re-running in the election. “I didn’t resubmit the form for the Karen Ethnic Affair Minister position,” Naw Pann Thinzar Myo told Karen…