National Democratic Force members join other political parties
The dissolved National Democratic Force (NDF) party told DVB that 35 of its members will contest the regime’s 2025-26 elections as independent candidates. The Union Election Commission (UEC) announced on Sept. 9 that it had deregistered four political parties, including the NDF, for failing to meet its criteria of having the required number of party members or offices to run nationally by the Sept. 7 deadline.
Htet Aung Kyaw, the NDF vice chairperson, told DVB that party members will instead contest the polls as members of the People’s Party (PP), the People’s Pioneer Party (PPP), and the Shan and Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP). Win Thein Han, an NDF member, told DVB that he will run as an independent candidate in North Dagon Township of Yangon Region for a seat in the Pyithu Hluttaw, or lower house of parliament.
The UEC announced on Oct. 25 that 86 candidates from 57 political parties were disqualified. The regime scheduled three-phased elections are set to begin on Dec. 28 and continue on Jan. 11, and at a later unknown date in January 2026, in 274 out of Burma’s 330 townships. The ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) party was dissolved by the UEC in March 2023 for not re-registering post-2021 coup.
Malaysia says less violence in Myanmar in 2025
Malaysian media reported that Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan told Malaysia’s lower house of parliament in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday that incidents of violence against civilians in Burma have decreased this year since Malaysia became the 2025 chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in January. Malaysia handed over ASEAN chairmanship to the Philippines, bypassing Myanmar in its alphabetical order, on Oct. 28.
“From 100 incidents, it’s now only about 20 percent of that figure,” Hasan told a Malaysian lawmaker. As of Oct. 7, DVB has documented that 1,849 people have been killed in 2,321 airstrikes carried out by the Burma Air Force this year. At least 1,441 individuals have been killed in 743 airstrikes in 2024, according to DVB data.
ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) called on the now 11-member regional bloc to adopt a bolder, more people-centered approach to democracy and humanitarian response in Burma at a meeting in the Malaysian capital on Nov. 3. The APHR stated that the 47th ASEAN Summit failed to reach tangible and urgent progress with the Burma crisis, which has dominated discussion at each summit since 2021.
French President Macron calls for release of Aung San Suu Kyi
Kim Aris, the son of Aung San Suu Kyi, shared a letter from French President Emmanuel Macron calling for the immediate release of Myanmar’s jailed State Counsellor on Tuesday. Aris received the letter from Special Envoy for Myanmar of the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France Christian Lechervy.
“I was very concerned to learn, through information provided by your son, of the deterioration of your health and the difficulty you face in accessing appropriate care, in the context of an unjust detention, which France has repeatedly denounced,” President Macron wrote in the letter addressed to Aung San Suu Kyi.
France, along with the U.S., the U.K., the E.U., Canada, Australia, and Japan, has repeatedly urged the regime, which ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) government in a military coup on Feb. 1, 2021, to release her unconditionally. Read more
News by Region
KAREN—A source close to the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) told DVB that regime forces will destroy 27 buildings inside the KK Park compound in Myawaddy Township, which is located along the Burma-Thailand border 81 miles (130 km) east of the Karen State capital Hpa-An.
The source told DVB that all valuable assets had already been relocated to an unknown location before being demolished, and only “defective” digital devices used in alleged cyber scam operations were destroyed. Regime forces and the BGF reportedly began demolishing the KK Park on Oct. 23.
SHAN—Sources close to the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in Mogok Township told DVB that it will withdraw its forces from the lucrative ruby mining town from Nov. 20-25, as part of the Chinese-brokered ceasefire agreement with the regime reached on Oct. 29.
“We learned that the TNLA is negotiating with the regime to let it open a liaison office after withdrawing from the town,” a TNLA source told DVB on the condition of anonymity, adding that no exit plan was shared with its allied resistance groups, including the People’s Defence Force (PDF). Read more
TANINTHARYI—Dawei Watch reported that the Metta Yeik Clinic in Dawei Township shut down in October. In June, the clinic’s operations were suspended when several members of its staff were arrested. All staff have been reportedly laid off and given severance pay based on length of employment.
Regime authorities ordered services to be suspended at the clinic in June 2021. Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), which operated the clinic, has not shared any details. Since the 2021 coup, international organisations have faced increasing restrictions on humanitarian aid deliveries and services.
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