Three Daughters Form Democratic Party
The formation of a new political party—the Democratic Party—to contend the 2010 Burmese elections was announced at a press conference in Rangoon on Monday. The party will be headed by the daughter of late Prime Minister U Nu, along with two other daughters of former political leaders.
The Democratic Party Chairman Thu Wai announced that the new party will be headed by: Mya Than Than Nu, the daughter of U Nu; Nay Yee Ba Swe, the daughter of late Prime Minister Ba Swe; and Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein, the daughter of late Deputy Prime Minister Kyaw Nyein.
He said the three would act as secretaries of the party and that it is prepared to participate in the upcoming election.
Veteran politician and former political prisoner Thu Wai made the announcement after a seminar titled “Analytic Discussion of the State of the Union 2010,” which was held on Monday at the Dolphin restaurant on Nat Mauk Street, Bahan Township, in Rangoon.
He said the Democratic Party has been formed in order to pursue democracy and to participate in the 2010 elections, which will transform Burma from decades-long authoritarian rule into a new system and toward a new era. He said the party will abandon all personal grudges, and defuse conflicts relating to politics, party, religion, race and the factionalism of Burma past.
Win Naing suggested that the ruling junta would also form some political parties in order to nominate representatives in various constituencies. More importantly, the junta's candidates will “apply various means to win” the election, he said.
One of the options for resolving Burma's crisis is "the sharing of administrative power" between politicians and the armed forces, Win Naing said.
"We can share administrative power. In the post-election government, the military could take 60 percent of the positions of power while politicians occupy 40 percent,” he said. “Then in the next term, the power ratio between the military and the politicians would be 50-50. Then, after a third term of elections, the ratio could be 40 percent military and 60 percent for the politicians. This would mean a gradual decrease in military involvement in national politics and the open the door to a peaceful transition.”
Win Naing warned, however, that a "power-sharing proposal" could be unacceptable for the National League for Democracy (NLD), which won the 1990 elections by a landslide.
Thu Wai said he wanted to convince others to first achieve power through the ballot box to fill the remaining 75 percent of parliamentary seats. He said he considered this a priority for all pro-democracy groups.
"If we were in power after the elections, we would propose rewriting the laws and regulations that are contradictory to democracy,” he said. “But the most important thing is: first we must be in power.”
The newly formed Democratic Party announced it would have 17 central executive members and 10 central committee members. It said it would be recruiting in the cities and some other regions.
