Junta-backed party hopes to win 2010 elections

_{25 December 2008}

On 1 May 2007, the party held a meeting at Moulmein, capital of Mon State. About 500 people attended the meeting, said the source.

“We, the NUP, will contest the elections. I certainly believe we will win because there is no party that is stronger than us now,” a source quoted Maj-Gen Tun Yee, the NUP leader, as saying.

He said the National League for Democracy (NLD) that won the 1990 elections could do nothing as its leader Daw Aung San Su Kyi is still under house arrest.

“The NLD is like a head without a body now. And the ethnic parties are only interested in their own states. So I am confident that we will win. If we are not confident, we won’t hold the elections,” he said.

“The reason we failed in the 1990 elections was because people were still bitter about the 1988 unrest. However, we are ready now,” he recalled.

In addition, the party has Kyat 100 million campaign fund, according to party sources.

Some Burmese analysts are saying that the ethnic groups will not have much chance either, as the NUP and the transformed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) are bound to win most of the seats in addition to the military’s 25 % quota provided by the constitution.

 On the other hand, the ethnic groups are still undecided whether to enter the elections or not, according to sources.

“We have yet to decide anything,” said a senior officer from the National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State (NDAA-ESS), known officially as Shan State Special Region #4, led by Sai Leun.