CNI News
25 November 2025
Questions are increasingly being raised among political observers about why the Myanmar public has lost trust in political parties.
Although there are many ways to resolve the current political crisis, political parties largely believe that the election is the least harmful way forward.
However, because the results of past elections were annulled on the grounds of voter list disputes, the public now has little confidence in the upcoming election and is not interested in it. Likewise, election observers note that the public also has little trust in the political parties who choose to participate in an election that the public does not support.
U Htet Aung Kyaw, a political analyst, told CNI News that a political party can only win public recognition when it truly represents the people and speaks up for their difficulties.
Grassroots communities seen
“It’s quite simple. When you establish a political party, it must represent the people.If it cannot represent the people, how can people like it? Only parties with many people who boldly speak out about public hardships will be recognized by the people as their true representatives—a party that genuinely stands on their side.Now, there are very few people who dare to speak this way.That’s why the public does not trust these parties.”, he said.
The public is struggling daily for food, basic needs, and job opportunities, and as a result, many no longer show interest in elections.
Additionally, the Spring Revolution forces have declared that they will disrupt and prevent the election, and that participants will face consequences. This has made the public stay even further away from the election process.
Daw Sandar Min, an independent candidate from Latha Township, told CNI News that the public has not lost trust but is instead afraid, due to the actions of political actors and activists since 2021.
“It’s not that they don’t trust; people are afraid.There is fear.After 2021, all the incidents that happened, the behaviors and actions of politicians and so-called revolutionaries, caused fear among the public.People have faced terrifying experiences that frightened them deeply.So I believe people are more scared than distrustful.There are good politicians and bad ones in every country.Some do politics with integrity, some exploit it.That’s why politics has gotten a bad name—because of those who exploit it.”, she said.
USDP campaigning
Currently, the public is dealing with a wide range of hardships: high commodity prices, inflation, lack of job opportunities, restrictions on overseas work, unlawful arrests under conscription laws, extortion, weak rule of law that leads to rising crime, and insecure domestic travel.
Additionally, because of ongoing conflicts, people are being displaced, agricultural work has become difficult due to high input prices, students have lost access to education, and healthcare costs have skyrocketed.
Political observers point out that political parties have lost public trust because instead of working to address these hardships, they only appear during the election period, asking for votes.
When the interests of the public clash with the interests of the party, political parties tend to protect their own party interests, leading the public to lose faith in political parties and trust individual candidates instead.
