The ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party is known to have a big campaign war chest, but smaller parties are struggling.

There is resentment about the financial resources available to the USDP, which will enable it to fund a big campaign.

“It a vicious circle,” said U Thu Wai, the chairman of the Democratic Party.

“Without money we cannot campaign and thus we are not popular, if we are not popular, we get no funds.”

Apart from campaign spending, the biggest costs for political parties are transportation and office rental. Most parties have a head office in Yangon where rental costs have skyrocketed in recent years. There is also the cost of participating in elections: parties are required to pay a registration fee for each election candidate.

There are 67 registered political parties, 28 of which represent ethnic minorities. Most parties depend on donations from supporters and a small monthly contribution from committee members for their survival. it is common for office staff to be unpaid and small parties rely heavily on volunteers to perform a range of tasks.

Some parties have raised their financial concerns with the Union Election Commission, which is considering providing assistance.

“So far we have no plan yet, but we are thinking about how to help the parties because we would like to support them,” a UEC member told Mizzima on condition of anonymity.

However, representatives of some parties say that while support from the UEC would be helpful they would be reluctant to accept it because of concern that accepting assistance from a government agency would damage their image.

“We are afraid that accepting financial help from the government would jeopardise our independency or damage the relationship with our supporters,” said Pu Zozam, the chairman of the Chin National Party.

In two separate letters sent to political parties in May this year, the UEC said it had asked the President’s office to provide parties with support. One letter outlined a proposal to provide parties with office space and the other was to provide them with five tax-free cars.

“I was told by a member of the Union Election Commission recently that this plan was withdrawn after some political parties objected to it,” said U Ko Ni, a lawyer and legal advisor to the National league for Democracy. Other parties said they had not been told about any such decision.

The UEC member said the commission was considering a proposal to provide parties with time for campaign announcements on state-run broadcasters. This would be similar to the 10 or 15 minute broadcasts provided to political parties during the 2010 general election, he said, adding that a final decision will be made by the President’s office and the UEC.

While most parties would welcome support from the government they insist that its policy on the issue should be clear and transparent.

“I think most of the ethnic parties will accept [government support], because they lack the funds to set up their party to normal standards,” said U Aye Maung, the chairman of the Rakhine National Party, a merger of the Rakhine National Development Party and the Arakan League for Democracy.

“Financial support is needed for the multi-party system because all parties need to stand by themselves, but the policy has to be transparent,” U Aye Maung said.

U Ko Ni said political parties have submitted a request to the UEC to reduce the candidate registration fee. This would relieve some of the financial burden on political parties without requiring direct government support, he said.

The candidate registration fee was introduced for the election held in 1990 for a constituent assembly. The election came two years after the national uprising crushed by the military in August 1988. There was extreme resentment towards the government and the authorities had to find a way of dealing with the 230 parties that registered for the election.

The authorities responded with two new rules. The first stipulated that parties could only contest the elections if they stood at least three candidates. The second was a candidate registration fee of K500,000.

“This was a reasonable decision, because there were so many parties at that time,” said U Ko Ni. Both rules remain in force and some parties have asked that the candidate registration fee be reduced to K300,000.

In the 1990 election, the government also provided support for political parties. “They told the parties that if they’d register, they would receive two cans of petrol, which was expensive at that time, and two phone lines,” said U Thu Wai.

But not all parties reaped the benefits of the election commission’s promise. “We, the democracy Party, registered first, before the NLD, which registered second. We both got the benefits,” said U Thu Wai. He said that only the first ten parties that registered received the petrol and the phone lines.

In 2010, political parties said they received no support from the government. “Also this time we received a lot from the government, but this time mainly intimidation,” U Thu Wai said, joking. “Hardly anybody dared to show up for meetings because the military police was always present.”

People were eager to show support for their parties in 1990 but in 2010 they were afraid. The reluctance to be involved in politics in 2010 created an extra burden for parties which relied on donations from supporters.

Despite the financial problems facing most parties, including his own, U Ko Ni says it should not be the UEC's responsibility to solve their money troubles.

The support provided by the government in 1990 in the form of free phone lines was different because they were essential for parties to function, said U Ko Ni.

The government owned the telephone service and it was virtually impossible for parties to get a phone line, he said.

U Ko Ni added that it was not the government’s responsibility to provide office space or tax-free vehicles.

“It is not the responsibility of the government to support the poor parties; their finances are their own duty and responsibility,” he said.