The Kayin People’s Party (KPP) on December 19th held a virtual meeting to review the election results and experiences of candidates who competed in Ayeyawady Region, said Mann Than Htay Aung, Vice-Chair of the KPP.
The meeting mainly focused on the selection of candidates, the situations faced by the candidates during the canvassing period before the election, and public voting in the election.
Mann Than Htay Aung said: “We got more votes than before. The KPP becomes more popular among the Karen people in the 2020 elections. It is found that the party got more supports from youths in many townships”
The 74 candidates from the KPP competed in the election nationwide. The 31 from the KPP competed in the election in Ayeyawady Region—one for the upper house parliament, ten for the lower house parliament, 19 for region parliament and one for Karen ethnic affair minister.
Although the KPP did not win any seat in Ayeyawady Region, the KPP won the third most votes after the NLD and the USDP.
Sa Ye Thurein Han, a candidate who competed in the Region Constituency-2 Pantanaw Township said: “During the canvassing in Pantanaw, the party faced attacks saying that the KPP was unable to form the government, it had no strength to amend the charter, and alleged we made an alliance with the Union Solidarity and Development (USDP) which has close ties to the army. The KPP won the victory in some villages.”
The party discussed the topics on the difficulties faced by the candidates in canvassing during the COVID-19 era, and the advantages of the ruling NLD party thanks to COVID-19 funding.
At the meeting, the candidates of the KPP pointed out the party was unable to carry out canvassing in the wards and villages, had to build the party by relying on, by the Karen people alone and so lacked funding.
The party plans to hold a person-to-person meeting in the early next year with the participation of the limited number of attendees, officials of the KPP said.