A member of the Union Election Commission has told DVB that Burma expects to hold another by-election in 2018, adding that the commission will plan the next poll to fill the vacant seats if the chambers of the respective parliaments request that the UEC do so.
“I am saying that we expect to hold a by-election in 2018,” said Aung Myint, the commission member.
“There are five vacant seats in state and regional hluttaws [legislatures] and two vacant seats in the Lower House. Since there are seven vacant parliamentary allocations, in accordance with the existing laws, the commission has a responsibility to plan a by-election when the chairs of the relevant parliaments demand us to do so.”
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The commissioner did not offer a date for when the vote might be held.
The seven vacant seats are in three states — Chin, Shan and Rakhine — and three regions: Bago, Sagaing and Mandalay.
Burma’s most recent by-election was held just last year, on 1 April. Of the 19 seats up for a vote in that poll, 10 were won by the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD). The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) tallied six, and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the Arakan National Party (ANP) and All Nationalities Democracy Party (ANDP) took one seat each.
