The Karen National Party (KNP), a newly formed Karen political party has yet to hear back from the Union Election Commission (UEC) if its registration has been formally accepted.
The KNP said it is reluctant to carry out any campaigning as it has not yet received a response from the UEC despite submitting its application to register as a party on 11th August 2014.
Mahn Kyaw Nyein, the KNP leader, told Karen News that they had applied to the UEC for permission to form a party on 2nd June
Mahn Kyaw Nyein, the KNP leader, told Karen News that they had secured permission from the UEC to form the party, but that registration was now delayed.
He said: “We got permission to form our party from the UEC on 16th July. After that, we elected two of our leaders to apply for party registration according to the legal procedures for registration. However, we have been waiting for an answer from the election commission. We cannot campaign for our party. People are eager to cooperate with our party and we have daily communication with them, but we can’t start anything.”
U Hla Maung Cho, the deputy director of the UEC told Karen News that the UEC had already published a notice in newspapers on the KNP party’s name, flag, and logos that could still be rejected according to the political parties’ registration law.
The UEC deputy also said that the KNP registration is being checked by the relevant ministries to make sure it is inline with the main national causes such as Non-Disintegration of Union and Perpetuation of Sovereignty and that its logo or flag are not copies of other organizations.
U Hla Maung Cho said: “According to current situation, the Karen National Party is still being vetted. We will submit the complete results along with the official approval when the process completed. I am not expecting it to take long, the party registration should be granted.”
The party's co-founders said the KNP aims to: bring equality and self-determination to the Karen people; cooperate with other ethnic nationalities for a genuine democratic federal union; protect the Karen people and ensure they retain their rights.
The KNP was formed at the beginning of the year after party members organised public meetings in Yangon, Pantanaw, Kyaung Gone, Einme and Wakema townships and elected 15 leaders from the public meetings organized in Thay Taw village, Wakema township in Irrawaddy Division on 27th April 2014.
