A total of 69 people have filed for candidature to contest Burma’s upcoming by-election, a Union Election Commission (UEC) official has told DVB.

The vote, for 13 seats across the Union Parliament and state and regional legislatures, will take place on Nov. 3. The deadline for candidate submissions was Wednesday.

“They are from 24 political parties. Seven of them are independent candidates,” said Myint Naing, a spokesperson for the UEC.

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The commission will vet the prospective candidates for eligibility from July 16-26.

In the upcoming November vote, four Lower House seats and one Upper House seat in the national legislature will be contested, as well as eight constituencies at the state and region level.

The country’s most recent by-election was held just last year, on April 1.

Of the 19 seats put to a vote in that poll, 10 were won by the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD). The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy tallied six, and the Union Solidarity and Development Party, the Arakan National Party and All Nationalities Democracy Party took one seat each.