The Chin Progressive Party (CPP) and Chin National Party (CNP) will merge to form the Chin National Progressive Party (CNPP). Salai Ceu Bik Thawng, general secretary of the CNP, told Khonumthung that the necessary paperwork to seal the merge will be submitted to the Election Commission of Myanmar this July.
The final decision came last April, but wasn’t made public until May 28 due to commission regulations, Salai Thawng said. Preparations for the merger were reportedly ongoing since last year.
Both CPP and CNP won seats in Chin state during the 2010 national elections, but because a quarter of seats were reserved for army representatives aligned with the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and others lost to fraud (advanced voting etc.) neither party could form a substantial block.
Party members are placing their bets that the CNPP will garner more strength against the USDP, National League for Democracy (NLD) and Ethnic National Development Party (ENP) in the upcoming elections.
