Stymied in its attempt to get registration, the Kachin State Progressive Party (KSPP) in Kachin State, Northern Burma will appeal again for the second time to the Union Election Commission for approval to be able to contest the 2010 election, a party member said.

The KSPP general secretary will hand deliver the appeal letter to the UEC in Naypyitaw, the capital of Burma for which he and a senior leader will leave Myitkyina today by airplane.

The KSPP formed by former members of Kachin ethnic armed groups is yet to be approved as a political party by the junta controlled UEC because the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) is refusing to accept the regime proposed Border Guard Force (BGF).

“We will make it abundantly clear that we are not connected to the KIO, through the letter to the Election Commission,” said a KSPP member.

Local residents said, the junta believes KSPP has tenuous links and is getting a lot of support from the KIO since the party leader is Dr. Manam Tu Ja a former No. 2 Vice-President of KIO. The UEC has approved 32 parties out of 42 parties, which had submitted applications, according to the junta’s mouth piece the New Light of Myanmar on June 9.

Dr. Tu Ja, who resigned from KIO on September 2 last year, submitted an application for floating a legal political party to the UEC in Naypyitaw on April 5. On May 7, the leader and three other members submitted an appeal letter to UEC. But there was no response.

“Other political parties are into poll campaign but not we, so we will ask for speedy approval,” said the KSPP member, who will go to Naypyitaw.

The KSPP was founded in early 2009 with a combination of Kachin State Interim Committee (KSIC), which was formed by KIO and the New Democratic Army-Kachin, which was transformed to the BGF led by Zahkung Ting Ying and the Kachin Nationals Consultative Assembly (KNCA).

The party launched its organizational activities since 2009 among the Kachin people before applying for approval.  Now it has stopped its poll related activities for over a month now. It has about 3,000 members and has opened over 45 branches around Kachin State.

Kachin State boasts at least four political parties in the run up to the polls, which applied for registration to the UEC. They are KSPP, junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), National Unity Party (NUP) and another Kachin Party formed by former leaders of New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K).

http://www.kachinnews.com/News/KSPP-to-appeal-to-UEC-again-for-approval....