Myanmar Spring Chronicle – March 15 Scenes
MoeMaKa, March 16 2023
March 28 is set as the last date for political party registration; NUG will take action against political parties competing in the junta’s election
According to the Law on Registration of Political Parties announced by the military council on January 26, it is stated that registration must be done within 60 days, but instead of March 26, which will be the 60th day of the announcement, March 28 was set as the last day.
There are 23 political parties that have been registered so far, compared to over 90 that were officially established before the military coup, which is only one fourth. The Political Parties Registration Law enacted by the military council was intentionally adopted to reduce the number of political parties competing nationwide, and it can be known by looking at the facts that those parties must have enough funds, certain numbers of party members to be organized, certain numbers of branch offices to be opened, and more than half of the seats to be competed for in the whole country. Not just because there are only one-fourth of political parties registered. It is assumed because of the decline in trust in finding a solution to Myanmar’s political crisis through political means or with the path of the election held by the military council.
But, on the other hand, there may be political parties and politicians who believe that the armed path is not the only option to choose. If so, they have to register under the Political Party Registration Law enacted by the military council. In Myanmar politics, it implies forcing political parties to choose, and it is also a difficult situation for political parties and politicians who have decided to find a solution to Myanmar’s politics through the so-called ground politics and the election method.
In this situation, the National Unity Government (NUG) has issued a statement saying that it will take legal action against political parties registered to compete in the election to be held by the military council. It stated that the political parties registered to the Election Commission will be considered those who encouraged the killings by the military council and that the NUG will take legal action against those parties. Actually, issuing such a statement is not easy and rather than being able to take practical action or not, it is more like politically condemning the political parties registered with the Election Commission and wanting to blacklist those parties politically. It is not a situation to take legal action under the current domestic war conditions.
In such a situation, it has been reported recently that China’s special representative for Myanmar, which is Myanmar’s neighbor and a powerful country in the region, went to meet with the Election Commission of the military council. Although it is not yet obvious whether China sees the election as a way out of Myanmar’s political crisis, it does have an interest.
China does not have a close relationship with the coup army as it did during the previous military regime, and it was seen that it shared the same opinion with the United States, another world power, in suspending its representation at the United Nations. It is not supporting the activities of the military council, but it must be considered a powerful country that interacts with the military council.
As for China, apart from the Communist Party sending messages to the NLD, there has been no official or illegal interaction with the opposition forces. It can also be said that China is applying a policy in its own interests to the Myanmar crisis.
On the other hand, ethnic armed groups that are based in the regions bordering China cannot ignore China and are partially dependent on China, so it will be necessary to try to understand China’s policies regarding Myanmar.