The recently formed Kachin Democratic Party (KDP) filed registration papers with the Union Election Commission (UEC) earlier this month. On Sept. 4, party leader Gumgrawng Awng Hkam travelled from his Myitkyina residence in Kachin state to national capital city of Naypyidaw to personally deliver the necessary paperwork. The party was formed by like-minded people from various Kachin civil society interested in politics, Awng Hkam told the Kachin News Group during a recent phone interview.
The KDP party said that UEC officials have almost finished scrutinizing the 17 people that were listed in his party's application. He expects to know if the application has been approved by October.
Awng Hkam’s venture into politics follows the footsteps of his late father Gumgrawng Zau Ing who was the head of the Kachin State National Congress for Democracy (KNDC); a party aligned with Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD). The KNDC won three seats in Kachin state during the 1990 election, but all the results were annulled by the ruling military junta.
KNP plans to have candidates across Kachin state during the upcoming 2015 elections. The party’s platform that is not yet finalized will mainly focus on improving the health, education, transportation and communication conditions in Kachin state, Awng Hkam said.
No Kachin party that was not affiliated with the government, or military, was approved during the last national election in 2010 by the regime-controlled UEC. In the lead up to the 2010 polls the UEC blocked the former Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) Vice Chairman 2 Dr. Tu Ja and party the Kachin State Progressive Party (KSPP) from registering. It was a move that reinforced the belief held by many of the Kachin ethnicity that the UEC favors the military.
In late August, Tu Ja and supporters formed the Kachin State Democracy Party (KSDP). Their application still needs formal approval. Several other Kachin political parties are expected to be formed in the coming months.
Another prominent Kachin politician, Labyawng Bawk Ja, who is a land rights activist and the National Democratic Force's (NDF) Kachin state chief, still remains detained in Hpakant. Labyawng Bawk Ja has been charged with the the death of a patient she treated several years ago. Both Bawk Ja and her supporters claim that her arrest earlier this year was politically motivated.
