National League for Democracy

The National League for Democracy (Burmese: အမျိုးသား ဒီမိုကရေစီ အဖွဲ့ချုပ်, IPA: [ʔəmjóðá dìmòkəɹèsì ʔəpʰwḛdʑoʊʔ]; abbr. NLD; Burmese abbr. ဒီချုပ် ) is a political party in Myanmar (Burma), currently serving as the governing party. Founded on 27 September 1988, it has become one of the most influential parties in Myanmar's pro-democracy movement. Aung San Suu Kyi, the Special Honorary President of the Socialist International,[5][6] Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and current State Counsellor of Myanmar, serves as its chairperson. The party won a substantial parliamentary majority in the 1990 Burmese general election. However, the ruling military junta refused to recognise the result. On 6 May 2010, the party was declared illegal and ordered to be disbanded by the junta after refusing to register for the elections slated for November 2010.[7] In November 2011, the NLD announced its intention to register as a political party to contend future elections, and Myanmar's Union Election Commission approved their application for registration on 13 December 2011.[8]

National League for Democracy

အမျိုးသား ဒီမိုကရေစီ အဖွဲ့ချုပ်
AbbreviationNLD
PatronTin Oo
Chairperson (ဥက္ကဋ္ဌ)Aung San Suu Kyi
FounderAung Shwe, Tin Oo, Kyi Maung, Aung San Suu Kyi, Aung Gyi
Founded27 September 1988 (1988-09-27)
Headquarters97B West Shwe Gon Daing Road, Bahan Township, Yangon[1]
IdeologySocial democracy[2]
Protectionism[3]
Populism[4]
Political positionCentre-left
Regional affiliationCouncil of Asian Liberals and Democrats (observer)
ColoursRed
Seats in the House of Nationalities
135 / 224
Seats in the House of Representatives
255 / 440
Seats in the State and Regional Hluttaws
476 / 879
Ethnic Affairs Ministers
21 / 29
Party flag

In the 2012 by-elections, the NLD contested 44 of the 45 available seats, winning 43, with its only loss being in one seat to the SNDP.[9] Party leader Aung San Suu Kyi won the seat of Kawhmu.[10]

In the 2015 general election, the NLD won a supermajority in both houses of the Assembly, paving the way for the country's first non-military president in 54 years.

History

The NLD was formed in the aftermath of the 8888 Uprising, a series of protests in favour of democracy which took place in 1990 and was ended when the military again took control of the country in a coup. It formed under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of Aung San, a pivotal figure in the Burmese independence movement of the 1940s. She was recruited by concerned democracy advocates. The first founding chair is Bridger General Aung Gyi and Aung San Suu Kyi is the General Secreatry of the Party.

In the 1990 parliamentary elections, the party took 59% of the vote and won 392 out of 492 contested seats, compared to 10 seats won by the governing National Unity Party.[11] However, the ruling military junta (formerly SLORC, later known as the State Peace and Development Council or SPDC) did not let the party form a government.[12] Soon after the election, the party was repressed and in 1996 Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest. This was her status for 16 of the following 21 years until her release on 13 November 2010. A number of senior NLD members escaped arrest, however, and formed the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB).

In 2001, the government permitted NLD office branches to re-open throughout Burma and freed some imprisoned members.[13] In May 2002, NLD's general secretary, Aung San Suu Kyi was again released from house arrest. She and other NLD members made numerous trips throughout the country and received support from the public. However, on their trip to Depayin township in May 2003, dozens of NLD members were shot and killed in a military sponsored massacre. Its general secretary, Aung San Suu Kyi and Party's Vice President, U Tin Oo were again arrested.[14]

From 2004, the government prohibited the activities of the party. In 2006, many members resigned from NLD, citing harassment and pressure from the Tatmadaw (Armed Forces) and the Union Solidarity and Development Association. In October 2008, following the crackdown on the aftermath of the Saffron Revolution a bomb exploded in the Htan Chauk Pin quarter of the Shwepyitha Township of Yangon, near the office of the military junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association killing one.[15] The victim was identified as Thet Oo Win, a former Buddhist monk who participated in the Saffron Revolution, was killed while improvising the bomb at his own residence.[16] The junta blamed the National League for Democracy party of planting that bomb, but experts believed at the time that the opposition was not in a position to carry out such acts amidst the tightly controlled security environment.[16] The junta detained several members of the party in connection with the bombings that year.[17]

The NLD boycotted the general election held in November 2010 because many of its most prominent members were barred from standing. The laws were written in such a way that the party would have had to expel these members to be allowed to run. This decision, taken in May, led to the party being officially banned.[7] A splinter group named the National Democratic Force broke away from the NLD to contest the elections,[18] but secured less than 3% of the vote. The election was won in a landslide by the military-backed USDP and was described by U.S. President Barack Obama as "stolen".[19]

Discussions were held between Suu Kyi and the Burmese government during 2011, which led to a number of official gestures to meet her demands. In October, around a tenth of Myanmar's political prisoners were freed in an amnesty and trade unions were legalised.[20][21]

On 18 November 2011, following a meeting of its leaders, the NLD announced its intention to re-register as a political party in order to contend in 48 by-elections necessitated by the promotion of parliamentarians to ministerial rank.[22] Following the decision, Suu Kyi held a telephone conference with Barack Obama, in which it was agreed that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would make a visit to Myanmar, a move received with caution by Burma's ally China.[23] The visit took place on 30 November.[24] European Union Vice President Catherine Ashton welcomed the possibility of "fair and transparent" elections in Burma, and said that the EU would be reviewing its foreign policy towards the country.[25]

The party was criticised for discouraging Muslim candidates during preparations for the 2015 elections, a step seen as related to its desire to keep good relations with hardline Buddhist monks such as the Ma Ba Tha association.[26] Ko Ni, a legal advisor to the party and a Muslim, was assassinated in January 2017. The party has also been criticized by international media outlets for its lack of response to the 2016 persecution of the Rohingya, as well as for "doing little to address the country’s weak rule of law, corrupt judiciary, or impunity for security force abuses" with the power they had (although several national institutions remain dominated by the military).[27]

Party platform
National League for Democracy's headquarters in Yangon (before reconstruction)

The party advocates a non-violent movement towards multi-party democracy in Myanmar, which was under military rule from 1962 to 2011.[28] The party also says it supports human rights (including broad-based freedom of speech), the rule of law, and national reconciliation,[29] although its commitment to these principles is debatable.

In a speech on 13 March 2012, Suu Kyi demanded, in addition to the above, independence of the judiciary, full freedom for the media, and increasing social benefits to include legal aid.

She also claimed amendments to the constitution of 2008, drafted with the input of the armed forces. She stated that its mandatory granting of 25% of seats in parliament to appointed military representatives is undemocratic.[30]

Party symbols

The party flag features the peacock, a prominent symbol of Myanmar. The dancing peacock (the peacock in courtship or in display of its feathers) was frequently featured in Burmese monarchic flags as well as other nationalist symbols in the country.[31] The fighting peacock is associated with the decades-long democratic struggle against military dictatorship in the country. The latter closely resembles a green peafowl, as it has a tufted crest. The NLD party symbol is adopted from the Myanmar (Burmese) Student Union flag. This student union organised since the uprising against British colonial rule in Burma, years before the independence of Burma in 1948, had played a major political role in Burma and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's late father Bogyoke Aung San (General Aung San) was one of the former presidents of the Rangoon University Student Union.

The party emblem is a traditional bamboo hat (ခမောက်).[32]

Election results

House of Nationalities (Amyotha Hluttaw)
Election Total seats won Total votes Share of votes Outcome of election Note Election leader
2010
0 / 224
 — — — Boycotted Aung San Suu Kyi
2012
4 / 224
 — — 4 Opposition Aung San Suu Kyi
2015
135 / 224
 — — 131 Majority government Aung San Suu Kyi

House of Representatives (Pyithu Hluttaw)
Election Total seats won Total votes Share of votes Outcome of election Note Election leader
1990
392 / 492
 7,930,841 52.5% 392 Not recognised Aung San Suu Kyi
2010
0 / 440
 — — — Boycotted Aung San Suu Kyi
2012
37 / 440
 — — 37 Opposition Aung San Suu Kyi
2015
255 / 440
 12,794,561 57.1% 218 Majority government Aung San Suu Kyi

State and Regional Hluttaws
Election Total seats won Total votes Share of votes Outcome of election Note Election leader
2015
476 / 850
 — — 474 Aung San Suu Kyi

Women's Committee

NLD Women's Committee (Burmese: အမျိုးသားဒီမိုကရေစီအဖွဲ့ချုပ် အမျိုးသမီး ကော်မတီ) is the committee of NLD women and provided legal and social assistance to women in need. Women’s Work Committees have been formed at all administrative levels, including region and state, ward, and village. The chairman of the Central Women’s Committee is May Win Myint [33][34][35]

No Name Duties
1. May Win Myint Chairperson
2. Zin Mar Aung Secretary
3. Khin Khin Phyu Member
4. Shwe Pone Member
5. Lat Lat Member
6. Thet Htar Nwe Member
7. Thandar Member
8. Than Than Aye Member
9. Aye Aye Mar Member
10. Aye Mu (or) Shar Mee Member

Bibliography
  • Houtman, Gustaaf. Daigaku, Tōkyō Gaikokugo. Kenkyūjo, Ajia Afurika Gengo Bunka. Mental culture in Burmese crisis politics: Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy. ILCAA, 1999. ISBN 978-4-87297-748-6.
gollark: Just found a new country and rule that.
gollark: They would be too mad about everything else you did and social media posts from 1986.
gollark: Yes.
gollark: The Malcolm Turnbull quote was about the ever-raging ever-moronically-stupid debate surrounding encryption. He wanted magic encryption only good guys\™ could break or something.
gollark: Or would have if they passed it.

References
  1. Frangos, Alex; Patrick Barta (30 March 2012). "Once-Shunned Quarters Becomes Tourist Mecca". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  2. "Leftist Parties of Myanmar". Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  3. Yap, Livia; Redmond, Tom (6 March 2019). "Asia Investors Split With West Over Myanmar's Rohingya Crackdown". Bloomberg. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  4. Khin Zaw Win (March 2018). Falling back on populism in post-ideology Myanmar (PDF). Authoritarian Populism and the Rural World. Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative – via Transnational Institute.
  5. "Socialist International - Progressive Politics For A Fairer World". Archived from the original on 18 November 2014.
  6. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "National League for Democracy disbanded in Myanmar". Haiti News. 4 May 2010. Archived from the original on 27 April 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  8. Suu Kyi's Myanmar opposition party wins legal status Archived 4 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine, The Associated Press, 13 December 2011
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  10. "Myanmar election commission announces NLD wins overwhelmingly in by-elections". Xinhua. 2 April 2012. Archived from the original on 29 December 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  11. Houtman, Daigaku & Kenkyūjo, 1999, p. 1
  12. Junta must free Burma's leading lady Archived 16 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine, The Australian, 19 May 2009
  13. "Burma's Confidence Building and Political Prisoners" (PDF). aappb.org. Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  14. "The Depayin Massacre: Two years on, Justice denied" (PDF). Asean Inter-parliamentary Myanmar caucus. 30 May 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2007. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  15. "One Dead in Burma Blasts". Radio Free Asia. AFP. 20 October 2008. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  16. "Increasing bomb blasts worry Rangoon residents – Zarni & Mungpi" (1). BurmaNet News. Mizzima News. 21 October 2008. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
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