The Naga National Party (NNP) beat its only rival, the military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), in almost all parliamentary seats available for Leshi, Lahe and Nanyun townships in the Naga Self-Administered Zone (SAZ) of northern Sagaing Region, after ballots were allegedly counted following the end of the first phase of voting in the regime’s 2025-26 elections on Sunday.
An NNP party source told DVB on the condition of anonymity that his party will represent all Naga people in Myanmar in parliament. The NNP did not disclose the number of parliamentary seats it may have won.
A resident of Nanyun Township told DVB that he was concerned that the USDP and the regime in Naypyidaw could take retaliatory action against the Naga if the military-proxy party failed to win as the NNP has claimed.
Election results will be announced by the regime’s Union Election Commission (UEC) following the conclusion of the final round of voting on Jan. 25, 2026.
Residents of the three townships in the Naga SAZ told DVB that 47,000 out of 67,000 eligible voters cast their ballots on Dec. 28. The Naga SAZ capital Lahe is located 587 miles (944 km) north of the Sagaing Region capital Monywa.
The first round of voting was held in 12 townships of Sagaing Region on Dec. 28. The second round of voting will take place on Jan. 11, 2025. Elections won’t be held in 12 of Sagaing’s 37 townships, according to the UEC.
The NNP was founded in Sagaing’s Hkamti Township in 2019. It was beaten by the National League for Democracy (NLD) party in its first election in 2020.
The NLD won back-to-back landslide election victories in 2015 and 2020 over the USDP, which governed Myanmar from 2010-15, but the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021 overturned those results.
Residents of Chaungzon Township in Mon State told DVB that the Mon Unity Party (MUP) won one seat each in the Pyithu Hluttaw, or lower house of parliament, and the Amyotha Hluttaw, or upper house of parliament.
The regime’s Mon State Chief Minister Aung Kyi Thein and a USDP candidate won a seat in the state parliament for Chaungzon, a resident told DVB. The USDP also won most seats in the other four Mon townships, the resident added.
The UEC held the first phase of voting in Mon’s Mawlamyine, Kyaikto, Kyaikmaraw, Chaungzon and Thaton townships. Mon State has a total of 10 townships, which means the five others will be included in phase two and three of the regime elections.
The MUP was founded in the Mon State capital Mawlamyine in 2019. It won 12 out of 45 constituencies in the 2020 elections.
A regime administration office and a military outpost in Mon’s Kyaikto Township was attacked by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) on Dec. 28, the first day of voting. Chaungzon and Kyaikto are located 14-87 miles (22-140 km) south and north of Mawlamyine.
The Arakan Front Party (AFP) and the Rakhine Nationalities Party lost to the USDP in the state capital Sittwe and Kyaukphyu townships, located 317 miles (510 km) south of Sittwe, after ballots were allegedly counted following the end of voting on Dec. 28.
The AFP, founded by an Arakan nationalist Aye Maung in 2018, won a state parliament seat and an Amyotha Hluttaw, or upper house of parliament, seat for Manaung Township. The Rakhine Nationalities Party, founded on Aug. 4, won one seat in the Pyithu Hluttaw, or lower house of parliament, for Manaung Township.
The UEC held elections in Sittwe, Kyaukphyu, and Manaung townships, which are under regime control. The remaining 14 of Arakan’s 17 townships were seized by the Arakan Army (AA) after it launched an offensive on Nov. 13, 2023.
The first phase of voting on Dec. 28 was held in 102 out of Myanmar’s 330 townships. Only 131 of Myanmar’s 330 townships will hold elections in full and 118 will do so in designated areas, according to DVB data.
Polls are unable to be held in 65 townships nationwide due to ongoing conflict, while 16 townships will have polling stations in urban areas only, according to the UEC.
