Moe Kyaw — The National League for Democracy (NLD) has won the majority of constituencies in Chin State. According to latest results the NLD won 28 out of the 39 available constituencies. They took all the constituencies in Hakha, Falam, Matupi, and Paletwa townships. The party won three seats in Kanpetlet, two seats in Htantalang and one seat in Ton Zang townships, according to U Zo Bawai, NLD state chairman.
Apart from the Zomi Congress for Democracy (ZCD), all the other Chin political parties fared poorly failing to score victories. Even the Chin National Democratic Party (CNDP) and Chin Progressive Party (CPP), which won over half of the constituencies during the 2010 Election, came up empty handed.
The ZCD won in six constituencies and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) won five constituencies.
The other parties that contested constituencies in Chin State were the Chin League for Democracy (CLD); Zomi National Region Development (ZNRD); Khumi (Khami) National Party; and the Arakan National Party (ANP).
Salai Issac Khen, director of Gender and Development Initiative Myanmar, who played an instrumental role in uniting Chin political parties to sign a letter of cooperation for elections, wrote this on his Facebook account: “We didn’t consider the choice of the majority of the Chin people. We calculated that our Chin people would only vote for the Chin party. Actually, they have chosen with their brains over their hearts. Our Chin parties need to continue to work hard to win both (with) the brains and hearts of the entire Chin people. At the same time, let’s start thinking and preparing how to join hands with the NLD for the communal benefit of the entire Chin people in the next five years as a way of respecting the choice of the Chin people.”
BNI Election Newsroom attempted to contact representatives of the losing Chin political parties for comments but they couldn’t be reached at the time of press.
Translated by Thida Linn
Edited by BNI staff