CNI News
4 July 2024
The Union Election Commission (UEC) stated on 1st July that it refused the ANP (the Arakan National Party)'s application for the party registration because the party got entangled with or violated the Section 7 of the Political Party Registration Act.
Their party had applied for the registration for over one year and the UEC could have pointed out the requirements the party should have carried out during the past year.
The UEC didn't seem to want to register their party, U Tun Aung Kyaw, member of the Policy Steering Committee of the ANP, told CNI News.
" Our ANP is the most popular party in Rakhine State. If they appreciated us as a political party, they should have pointed out the requirements that we had to meet during the past year because we had applied for the registration for over one year. Why they expressed that were inconsistent with Section-7 (of the Political Parties Registration Act) just now. The UEC doesn't seem to want us to register. We applied with a list of 25 people. I don't know what to say if they didn't allow us to register because we or one of us kept in touch with an unlawful individual or organization." he said.
While the ANP was putting up its signboard
According to the Political Parties Registration Act, organizations that encourage and support directly or indirectly organizations that have been declared illegal associations, organizations that are armed against the state and organizations designated by the State as terrorist organizations must not be allowed to apply for the registration.
Increasing participation of ethnic groups facilitated negotiation and discussion, but she had no rights to comment about political party registration, Daw Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein from the Federal Democratic Party, told CNI News.
" As we are trying to make peace, we want all ethnic groups to participate because the more ethnic groups participate, the more convenient we negotiate. We want all ethnic groups in the country to have peace. But we have no rights to comment about the political party registration." she said.
They haven't decided how to proceed in relation to being refused to register their party and the ideas saying the political problem must be solved with political means must be broadened, U Tun Aung Kyaw from the ANP told CNI News.
" Battles are widely taking place in our country. So, the people are suffering a lot. We have been continuously trying to widen the political frame. It's sad that we were rejected.
It's time all the stakeholders should carry out to broaden ideas and perceptions that can solve political problems through political means so that the hardships of the people can be overcome." he said.
The ANP is a powerful political party in Rakhine State and it won most of the seats in the general elections.
