“The Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party will not run in the Kayin State. We have given our pledge. We will sign it if we are asked [to sign it],” Saw Kyi Linn, General Secretary of the PSDP, told KIC News on March 13.

Although the PSDP will not contest in the Karen State, it will only have the Karen National Democratic Party (KNDP), a newly merged party of three Karen parties, run in the state, Saw Kyi Linn continued.

According to the announcements of the Union Election Commission, a political party may be automatically abolished if it does not run in at least three constituencies so the PSDP will run in the areas outside the Karen State such as the Mon State, according to the officials from the party.

Although the PSDP has not joined the Karen poitical parties in the establishment of the KNDP, some hardcore members of the party have resigned and joined the KNDP.

Former members of the PSDP took the majority of the seats including the chairman position during the election of the KNDP’s new 15-member central executive committee after six former PSDP members were elected on March 12.

Currently, there are four official Karen political parties, namely the KNDP and the PSDP in the Karen State, the Karen People’s Party (KPP) in Yangon, and the Karen National Party (KNP) in the Ayeyarwaddy Region. The officials of the parties said they will hold meetings to avoid running in the same constituencies in the upcoming election.

The PSDP was established in 2010 and it won six seats in the 2010 Election – three seats in the Amyotha Hluttaw, two seats in the Pyithu Hluttaw, and four seats in the State Hluttaw. Although it ran in the 2015 Election, it did not win any seats.