The National League for Democracy’s (NLD) Central Executive Committee has suspended 21 party members from Mon State’s Chaungzone Township. According to Executive Committee spokesperson U Win Htein, they were suspended for publically trading blame for the loss of the township’s parliamentary seat in the last election.
“We had to suspend them because they were publicly arguing about who was responsible for the NLD loss in the by-election in Chaungzone,” he said to the Mon News Agency.
A commission has been set up to investigate the squabbling and report back to the party within the month. It is composed of the state party chairman Dr, Khin Sang, Mawlamyine Chairwoman Daw Nwe Nwe Aung, and information officer U Aye Min.
“We have been receiving complaints since the April by-election. We will continue to investigate those party members who were complaining, and if we find that their behavior violated our party rules, the committee will take action,” Dr. Khin Saung said.
On October 30, 2016, about 50 party members from Chaungzone protested at the NLD central office in Mawlamyine, because the party had chosen a candidate who was not from the township. That candidate lost the April 2017 election to U Aung Kyi Thein of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) who is a Chaungzone resident.
