USDP won all major townships in Kachin State

A USDP candidate Thein Zaw shook hands his supporters in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State. Photo: Kachin News Group

The military junta-controlled Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) won in the major townships and took 64 % of the the seats in the various houses of parliament in Kachin State, Northern Burma.

In Kachin State, USDP won 64 percentages of four Parliament seats.

USDP candidate, and former Minister of Post, Communication and Telegraph, Brig-Gen Thein Zaw, won in Myitkyina Township, the capital of Kachin State.


Former Lt-Gen and ex-commander of northern Burma, Ohn Myint, won in Hpakant (Jade Land) township, and former Auditor General, Brig-Gen Lun Maung, won in Bhamo Township.

Five parties contested the election in Kachin State, including the Unity Democratic Party for Kachin State (UDPKS), the National Unity Party (NUP), the National Democratic Force (NDF), the Shan Nationals Democratic Party (SNDP) and the junta’s USDP.

However, it was the USDP which won the majority of constituencies and parliament seats: winning14 seats of 18 seats in the People’s Parliament, 6 of 12 seats in the National Parliament (Amyotha Hluttaw), and 20 of 36 seats in the State Parliament, in Kachin State.

The NUP won 2 seats in the People’s Parliament, where the SNDP won 1.

In the Amyotha Hluttaw, the NUP won 3 seats, and the SNDP 1seat, the UDPKS 1 seat, and the independent, Zahkung Ting Ying, took one seat.

In the State Parliament the NUP won 10 seats, the SNDP 3 seats, the UDPKS has 2 seats, and another independent, Yaw Na, took one seat.

No Kachin opposition party ran in the election, but independent ethnic candidates won 9 seats in the People’s Parliament, 5 seats in the Amyotha Hluttaw, and 22 seats in the State Parliament.

USDP candidates of Kachin tribes from Lisu and Rawang won the Kachin Ethnic Parliament Representative seats, and the SNDP candidate, Daw Khin Pyone Yi, won for the Shan, and the NUP candidate, Khin Maung Swe, won the seat representing the Burman ethnic group.

However, NDF candidates, Ma Hka, and Daw Bawk Ja, who ran for the People’s Parliament seat in Hpakant Township, lost the election.

The USDP candidate, and former armed group leader, Tanggu Dang (Ah Dang), ex-leader of the Rebellion Resistance Force (RRS) of the Rawang tribe, based in Putao District, and Lasang Awng Wa, former leader of the splinter armed group from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) , the Lawang Awng Wa Peace Group, also lost.

Zahkung Ting Ying, leader of the New Democratic Army-Kachin, which has been transformed to the junta-controlled Border Guard Force (BGF), and his son, Zahkung Ying Sau, the UDPKS candidate, won in the China-Burma border areas of Chipwi and Pangwa.

In Hpakant Township, the USDP is being accused of stealing votes and voter fraud while collecting advance votes. The authorities set up at least 17 ballot boxes for every company having about 1,000 jade miners, and area residents said the workers were ordered to vote only for the government–backed USDP.

An NDF party organizer said they have been allowed to count votes in 70 polling stations out of 101. They said the others votes were submitted to the election commission.

NDF released a statement saying it will lodge a complaint of election fraud against the government-controlled USDP- to the government-controlled election commission.

The junta’s Union Election Commission (UEC) refused to allow voting in 68 villages, from the 9 townships of Waingmaw, Chipwi, Momauk (N’mawk), Shwegu, N’Jang Yang, Sawlaw, Danai, Sumprabum and Mansi, in which the USDP would have definitely lost, according to Kachin State Progressive Party (KSPP) General Secretary, Lungjung Tu Raw.

The KSPP, the largest, and supposedly most popular political party in Kachin State, led by Dr. Manam Tu Ja, former No. 2 Vice President of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), was denied approval to run by the UEC, after being accused of links to the KIO.

Source:http://kachinnews.com/news/1793-usdp-won-all-major-townships-in-kachin-state.html