Kachin members belonging to the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) have been pressurized by the Burmese military junta to float a new political party to contest the election later this year, said local sources.

Last week, Kachin USDP members in Myitkyina, the capital of Burma’s northern Kachin State were advised to leave the party and float a new political party. The suggestion came from the two general secretaries of USDP--- Brig-Gen Thein Zaw, Minister of Post, Communication and Telegraphs, and U Aung Thaung, Minister of Industry-1, said local USDP sources.

In the wake of the suggestion, the Kachin State Unity and Democracy Party (KSUDP) was formed last week by Duwa Hkyet Hting Nan, the USDP’s chief public organizer for the elections in the region along Sumprabum Road, 10 miles north of Myitkyina, said party sources.

The leader of the party Hting Nan is a businessman and he was an executive committee member of Kachin Cultural Office in Myitkyina for several years. This is the highest cultural office for all Kachin tribes.

Sources close to KSUDP said, the party will register with the Union Election Commission (UEC) in Naypyitaw, soon for contesting elections from Kachin State.

Earlier, the two USDP general secretaries advised the two former Kachin armed group leaders--- Zahkung Ting Ying, Chairman of Pangwah-based New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) and Col Lasang Awng Wa, leader of Lawayang-based Lasang Awng Wa Peace Group in Myitkyina on June 19, to form a new Kachin party.

The idea failed because Ting Ying refused and Lasang Awng Wa had to accept the suggestion to form a party but was stopped from doing it within a week by the two USDP leaders, said sources close to the two pro-Naypyitaw Kachin leaders. It was only then that Duwa Hkyet Hting Nan of the USDP was asked to come out and float a political party in Kachin state.

The KSUDP is the fourth Kachin party in the country to join the election fray. However, none of the Kachin parties are approved by the junta’s UEC yet.

The three Kachin parties--- Kachin State Progressive Party (KSPP), a party formed by former NDA-K general secretary Layawk Ze Lum and Northern Shan State Progressive Party (NSPP) are still awaiting a decision from the UEC.

Since April, the junta’s backed USDP has been the only party, which is solidly into election campaigning in Kachin State. It is wooing voters by providing Chinese-made CDMA mobile and landline phones in the main cities, and proving cash to the civilians in rural areas.

Till now, the UEC has approved 38 parties from among 42 applications for approval but no Kachin party is approved yet.