UDP said junta-backed parties will be the main rivals

Friday, 23 April 2010 23:35 Min Thet

Rangoon (Mizzima) - The junta-backed parties will be the main rivals of the Union Democracy Party if it is permitted to contest the forthcoming election, the party’s chairman has predicted.
He expressed his opinion at the party’s press conference about its registration with the Election Commission on U Chit Maung Road, Bahan Township, Rangoon on Friday.

To be a free and fair election, political prisoners should be released, the election process should be inclusive, the media should be free and international election watchdogs should be allowed to enter the country and monitor the polls, former political prisoner Phyo Min Thein said.

Despite the military junta keeping its political allies’ election plans secret, three junta-backed political parties will be formed including Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA, its logo will still be a lion) and the National Progressive Party, a USDA leader told Mizzima.

The military junta would encourage its cronies to register political parties and then would monitor the other parties closely, a Division-level leader of USDA said.

USDA leaders believe that they will win in the forthcoming election.

The political parties, 88 Generation Students (Union of Myanmar) and Union of Myanmar National Political Force have been registered and allowed to run, the state mouthpiece, The New Light of Myanmar, reported today.

The main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, has decided against re-registering because it cannot accept the junta’s unfair electoral laws. Burmese opposition groups in exile have urged the people to boycott the forthcoming election.

Sixteen new political parties and three existing political parties had registered to contest in this year’s election, the date of which has yet to be announced.