Senior party leaders of two Rakhine political parties, the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD) and the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), said that they object to the proportional representation (PR) electoral system that has been proposed by some political parties ahead of the 2015 general election.
Myanmar currently adopts the “first-past-the-post” system in which the party with the largest number of votes simply wins the seat. But in a PR system, seats are shared proportionally among the contesting parties in accordance with each party or candidate’s number of votes.
A PR system has been advocated by the National Democratic Force (NDF) and Democratic Party (Myanmar) (DP-M).
ALD Chairman Aye Thar Aung said on June 1 at the opening ceremony of the party’s Tungup Township office that they could not accept a PR system as it was not in the interests of the Rakhine people.
“The ALD cannot accept a PR system because about one-third of the citizens in Rakhine State are foreigners,” he said. “If we allowed a PR system to be implemented, it would create enormous challenges to our race and religion.”
Similarly at the annual central committee meeting of the RNDP held in Ann Township from May 27- 29 the party also passed a resolution to oppose the PR proposal.
“If we exercise this PR system, it will create both intra- and inter-party problems,” the RNDP announced. “Until we reach a state of mature democracy and a stable political climate, we should use the first-past-the-post system, especially in Rakhine State, otherwise this new system could exacerbate the current regional conflicts. We oppose any proposal of PR.”
The RNDP won a total of 35 seats in Rakhine State in the 2010 general election. The ALD won 11 parliamentary seats as the single largest party in Rakhine State in the 1990 general election. However the then military regime unilaterally dissolved the ALD after the general election. It reregistered as a political party with the Election commission in May 2012.
