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Presidential Hopefuls in Myanmar’s 2015 Elections

By Institute of Southeast Asian Studies  •  November 3, 2015

Myanmar’s General Elections being held on 8 November 2015 will determine the Assembly of the Union (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw) which comprises of the Lower House of Parliament (People Assembly, Pyithu Hluttaw) and the Upper House of Parliament (National Assembly, Amyotha Hluttaw) as well as the regional assemblies of the fourteen states and regions. A total of 1,171 seats being contested—330 seats in the Lower House, 168 in Upper House and 673 in regional assemblies. Of the 6,189 candidates, 1,772 are contesting for the Lower House, 915 for the Upper House and 3,504 for the regional assemblies. As many as 5,866 are representing 92 political parties while 323 are independents.

Where the two main contending parties are concerned, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is fielding 318 candidates for the Lower House and 165 candidates for the Upper House against the 325 and 167 respectively being fielded by the National League for Democracy (NLD). Other non-ethnic based political parties with a significant number of candidates are the National Unity Party (NUP) – successor to the former Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), the National Democratic Force (NDF), the Myanmar Farmers Development Party (MFDP) and the National Development Party (NDP). In accordance with the constitution, the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Defence Service) has 25 per cent of seats in both the Lower and Upper Houses with 110 and 56 seats (total of 166) respectively reserved for them.

Download the full briefer in English here.

Tags: 2015 Elections, Burma Socialist Programme Party, Human Rights, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Myanmar Farmers Development Party, National Development Party, National League for Democracy, National Unity Party, Union Solidarity and Development Party

This post is in: 2015 Burma Elections, ASEAN, Business and Human Rights, Ethnic Nationalities, Human Rights, International Relations, Law, Military Regime, Political Prisoners, Women

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