UNA member parties will participate in the 2015 general election with the objective of amending the 2008 constitution, according to Nai Kyaw Win, Mon National Party (MNP) Central Executive Committee member.

“Because [the] UNA does not like the 2008 constitution, and does not trust it, the UNA has not contested in elections. But now, although we do not like it and do not trust it, once we are in the Hluttaw (parliament), we will amend it. We compete in this election with the objective of being able to amend the constitution,” said Nai Kyaw Win.

The UNA was founded by eight ethnic political parties which contested the 1990 elections; the group boycotted the 2008 constitution and refused to participate in the 2010 general elections.

At the association’s conference, the UNA and its alliance organizations urged [for] all political parties to participate in the 2015 general elections, in accordance with the democratic system of free, fair, and transparent elections.

According to Sai Nyunt Lwin, general secretary of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), the UNA and other organizations are calling upon all political parties to contest the upcoming election because there is the possibility that the government may not hold the elections.

He said: “It is necessary to hold the elections, according to the constitution; this cannot be avoided. But, it is possible that they [the government] will give other reasons. Generally, in some countries across the world, if the current government cannot win, it just draws back to the past. If they [the government] wins, they will step forward… there is the possibility that the government will just continue to run without holding elections.”

The UNA held its 2nd conference from 17-19 February at the Royal Rose [Restaurant] Hall in Rangoon. More than 33 organisations attended the conference, including UNA member parties, ethnic armed resistance groups, and civil society organizations. The attended representatives discussed topics surrounding politics, the ceasefire, the Laukkai armed conflict, the national education law, and worker and farmer issues.

The UNA is comprised of political parties that were formed before the 1990 elections, including the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, the Kayah National Party, the Zomi Democracy League Party, the Mon National Party, the Shan State Kokand Democratic Party, the Rakhine National Party, the Kachin National Democracy Congress Party, and the Karen National Party.