Sources told Myanmar media that the People’s Party and the People’s Pioneer Party (PPP) lost to the military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in most constituencies, after ballots were allegedly counted following the end of the first phase of the regime’s 2025-26 elections on Sunday.
Saw Aye Han, the PPP deputy chairperson, told media outlets that his party didn’t win any seats. DVB contacted PPP Chairperson Thet Thet Khine, but she declined to comment.
San San Thwe, a People’s Party candidate in Myeik Township, claimed victory over the USDP candidate for a seat in the Pyithu Hluttaw, or lower house of parliament, for Tanintharyi Region on Dec. 28. But the USDP has challenged the People’s Party claim, according to Myeik residents.
“The USDP filed a complaint to the Union Election Commission, accusing the [polling station] clerk of directing voters to vote for the People’s Party,” a Myeik resident told DVB. Myeik is located 151 miles (243 km) south of the Tanintharyi Region capital Dawei. Tanintharyi Region has a total of 10 townships.
The first phase of the elections was held in Myeik, Dawei, Bokepyin and Kawthoung townships. The second and third phases of the election will be held in the remaining six townships on Jan. 11 and Jan. 25, 2026, according to the regime’s Union Election Commission (UEC).
The People’s Party was founded in 2018 by Ko Ko Gyi, a former leader of the 88 Generation Students Group and political prisoner. Thet Thet Khine, a former National League for Democracy (NLD) party lawmaker elected in 2015 who was suspended from the party for criticizing State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi in 2018, founded the PPP the following year.
The PPP challenged the NLD in the 2020 elections, but did not win any seats. The results of the 2020 elections, which was a landslide victory for Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD over the USDP, were overturned in the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021.
The NLD was dissolved by the UEC in March 2023 for not re-registering for the regime’s 2025-26 elections despite the fact that the party’s senior leaders are in prison and its members fled underground or into exile to avoid arrest by regime authorities.
Six political parties, including the People’s Party, the PPP, the USDP, the National Unity Party (NUP), the Myanmar Farmers’ Development Party (MFDP), and the Shan and Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), also known as the White Tiger Party, are fielding candidates nationwide.
An SNDP source told DVB on the condition of anonymity that it had won a seat in the Pyithu Hluttaw for Langhko Township in southeastern Shan State, along with two regional parliamentary seats in Mandalay Region’s Nyaung-U and Chanayethazan townships. The source added that its candidates lost in all other townships.
The first phase of the elections was held in 12 townships of Shan State and eight townships of Mandalay Region.
In Arakan State, the USDP claimed victory over the Arakan Front Party (AFP) and the Rakhine Nationalities Party in the capital Sittwe, as well as Kyaukphyu Township, located 317 miles (510 km) south of Sittwe.
A total of 195,888 voters were registered by the UEC to vote at 164 polling stations in Sittwe, Kyaukphyu and Manaung townships, which are the only three under regime control.
Fourteen out of Arakan’s 17 townships were seized by the Arakan Army (AA) after it launched an offensive against the military on Nov. 13, 2023. Fighting between the AA and regime forces was reported by residents in Sittwe and Kyaukphyu before voting began in the two townships on Dec. 27.
The first phase of voting was held in 102 out of Myanmar’s 330 townships on Dec. 28. 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.
