National Unity Party (Burma)

National Unity Party တိုင်းရင်းသားစည်းလုံးညီညွတ်ရေးပါတီ
President	Tun Yi
Headquarters	Bahan Township, Yangon
Ideology	Socialism, Pro-Military Junta
Seats in the Amyotha Hluttaw	5 / 224
Seats in the Pyithu Hluttaw	12 / 440
Politics of Burma Political parties Elections

The National Unity Party (Burmese: တိုင်းရင်းသားစည်းလုံးညီညွတ်ရေးပါတီ; pronounced [táiɴjɪ́ɴðá sílóuɴ ɲìɲʊʔ jé pàtì]) is a political party in Burma (Myanmar). It was formed by the military junta as well as members of the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) to take part in the general election of May 27, 1990. The party was defeated by the National League for Democracy. NUP's headquarters are in Bahan Township, Yangon. Its chairman is Tun Yi, a former deputy commander of the armed forces, and its general secretary is U Than Tin.^[1]

After the elections were nullified by the junta, the NUP played little role in Burmese politics though it remains a pro-junta party with several leaders in the regime, albeit marginalised. It mostly represents old guard Ne Win loyalists, former BSPP members, and big business interests.^[2] It contested the 2010 elections as the main challenger of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the de facto pro-regime party, since NUP had nominated 999 parliamentary candidates nationwide (contesting at both regional and national levels), second only to the 1,100 candidates nominated by the USDP.^[3] It has joined with opposition parties in accusations of vote rigging after suffering a massive defeat in the elections at the hands of the USDP.^[4]

It entered 316 seats of Pyithu Hluttaw, 512 seats of Amyotha Hluttaw and 528 seats of State and Region Hluttaws. 12 candidates for Pyithu Hluttaw, 5 candidates for Amyotha Hluttaw and 46 candidates for State and Region Hluttaws were selected. Only 63 out of 996 contestants were able to secure majority votes in 2010 General Election.^[5][6]

References

1. ^ http://mizzima.com/political-pro/military/nup.html
2. ^ http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/international/news/20101110p2g00m0in092000c.html
3. ^ http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2010/10/20101030175118595818.html
4. ^ http://www.irrawaddy.org/election/news/603-nup-concedes-defeat.html
5. ^ www.altsean.org/Research/2010/Key Facts/Constituencies/Constituencies.php
6. ^ www.altsean.org/Research/2010/Key Facts/Results/Overall.php

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