Three Chin political parties – the Chin Progressive Party (CPP), the Chin National Democratic Party (CNDP), and the Chin League for Democracy (CLD) – agreed to merge into one party at a meeting on 21 May.
Leaders of the three parties met at Myitkyina Hall at the Happy Noodle Café in Rangoon on 21 May, where they held discussions about merging before finally deciding to merge, according to the CLD secretary Salai Pi Pi.
He said: “Since the beginning, we were aiming to unite. Everyone understood that the parties would need to unite one day. We couldn’t unite because the time wasn’t right. This [unity] is needed for all the Chin people. All the Chin people want [the Chin parties] to unite. All of us agree to unite we are convinced that we need to unite and must unite.
Three representatives from each party will meet up to draft the principles for the merger. If the merger is successful other Chin political parties will be invited to join them.
Salai Pi Pi said: “At present there are three Chin parties, but there are also other parties and they will want to unite [with us]. But the three parties that have Chin in their [party] name will take the lead and unite first before inviting them [the other parties to join us].
The CPP and CLD have previously tried to merge, but their attempts were unsuccessful.
The CPP secretary, U Saw Mya, said that there was a good chance that the parties would successfully merge this time.
He said: “Our top leaders have agreed to this issue and reached an understanding. The merger should run smoothly after we have had discussions about the principles [for merging] and had one or two more meetings.”
The top leaders of the three Chin parties were due to meet again on 28 May to discuss the merger.
Translated by Thida Linn
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
