Mon Political Merger Welcomes A Third Party
An alliance of two Mon political parties added the newly established Mon National Representative Party to its coalition.
By NETWORK MEDIA GROUP (NMG)
Thursday, August 9, 2018
An unified two Mon political parties added the newly established Mon National Representative Party (MNRP) to its coalition on August 7, representatives from the groups said.
The merger now includes MNRP, the All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMDP), and the Mon National Party (MNP), which will form a new party together.
“According to our agreement, we can say that the three Mon political parties have joined to become one,” Nai Layi Tama, a member of the political parties’ merging committee, told NMG.
The MNRP will not continue its own party registration process with the Union Election Commission, explained Nai Tala Nyi, who is on the 21-member team working on the merger.
“The aim of establishing the MNRP was that we were trying to have only one political party for all Mon people,” he said. “We came to an agreement to merge all the Mon political parties after our discussion, so we don’t need to run a Mon national political party [on our own].”
The three groups agreed to five points during Tuesday’s meeting. These included the establishment of one Mon political party, participation at all levels of society, a consensus to choose a name for the party from 13 suggested names, a will to work with other Mon political forces, and a commitment to the continued discussion of issues as they arise.
NMG reported last month that the AMDP and MNP agreed to merge on July 21 after representatives from both parties held discussions to that end.
Initial talks of a political merger among the Mon political parties began in 2015 after general elections in Burma, but it was soon delayed. From this delay, the MNRP was formed.
In 2015, the MNP ran in 53 constituencies, winning two seats in the Mon State parliament and one seat in the national Upper House. It did not run in 2010. The AMDP ran in 35 constituencies and won one seat in Mon State parliament in these elections. In 2010, its candidates ran in 34 constituencies in Mon and Karen states. They won three seats the Lower House, four in the Upper House, and nine in the Mon State parliament.
Burma’s next general elections are scheduled to take place in 2020. In addition to the three Mon parties that have agreed to merge is the Women’s Party (Mon), which plans to run in two years.
