Shan Nationalities League for Democracy
Shan Nationalities League for Democracy ရှမ်းတိုင်းရင်းသားများ ဒီမိုကရေစီ အဖွဲ့ချုပ် | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chairman | Khun Htun Oo |
| General Secretary | Sai Nyunt Lwin |
| Founded | 21 October 1988 |
| Headquarters | No. 25, Pyay Road and Zawpaw road corner, Part-5, Mayangone Township, Yangon Region |
| Ideology | Shan interests |
| Slogan | "Without equality we cannot have peace, without peace we cannot build democracy." |
| Seats in the Amyotha Hluttaw |
3 / 224 |
| Seats in the Pyithu Hluttaw |
12 / 440 |
| Seats in the Shan State Hluttaw |
25 / 151 |
| Seats in the Kachin State Hluttaw |
1 / 53 |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (Burmese: ရှမ်းတိုင်းရင်းသားများ ဒီမိုကရေစီ အဖွဲ့ချုပ် [ʃáɴ táɪɴjɪ́ɴðámjá dìmòkəɹèsì ʔəpʰwḛdʑoʊʔ]; abbreviated SNLD) is a political party in Myanmar (Burma). The party was established on 21 October 1988, and campaigns for the interests of the Shan people.[1] The SNLD became the largest Shan party in the Assembly of the Union following the 2015 general election.[2]
Unlike the similarly named Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, the party prefers a federal system with 8 states, rather than the status quo of 7 states and 7 regions.[3]
History
The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy was founded by Khun Htun Oo, the nephew of the last Hsipaw State Saopha Sao Kya Seng. The party was formally registered in 1988. In the 1990 general election, the party won the second highest number of seats, which was unrecognised by the ruling military junta.
In 1993 and 2004, members of the party attended the national congress and dialogue, where several opposition groups met with the military junta to negotiate peace treaties. However, after the congress was held in 2004, SNLD leaders were arrested under different charges, and were given long prison sentences.
The party had been openly against the 2008 constitution, and it boycotted the 2010 general election, along with other opposition parties, such as the National League for Democracy. In 2012, following constitutional and government reforms, political prisoners, including the leaders of the SNLD, were released, and the SNLD was permitted to operate legally and re-register for elections.[4]
The SNLD went on to run successfully in the 2015 election, winning 3 seats in the Amyotha Hluttaw,[5] 12 seats in the Pyithu Hluttaw[6] and 26 seats in the State and Regional Hluttaws (25 in the Shan State Hluttaw, and 1 in the Kachin State Hluttaw).[2] This makes the SNLD the 4th largest political party elected to the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (Assembly of the Union) and the 5th largest overall. Many SNLD gains in the election took place at the expense of the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, which was reduced from being the 2nd largest party in Shan State and the 3rd largest party nationally, to holding only a single seat in the Shan State Hluttaw.
References
- ↑ "Shan Nationalities League for Democary". SNLD. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
- 1 2 "That's a Wrap: UEC (Finally) Calls Last 11 Election Races". The Irrawaddy. 20 November 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
- ↑ Myint, Sithu Aung. "Sai Ai Pao, Chairman of the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party". Frontier Myanmar. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
- ↑ "Shan Nationalities League for Democracy". 7dailynews. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
- ↑ "Announcement 93/2015". Union Election Commission. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
- ↑ "Announcement 92/2015". Union Election Commission. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
