Democratic Party for a New Society

The Democratic Party for a New Society (abbr. DPNS; Burmese: လူ့ဘောင်သစ်ဒီမိုကရက်တစ်ပါတီ) is a registered political party in Myanmar (Burma), founded in 1988 by Moe Thee Zun, the then Secretary General of the All Burma Students League (ABSL).[3] The party campaigns independently from other parties and is unaffiliated with the more influential National League for Democracy (NLD), despite sharing similar goals.[4]

Democratic Party for a New Society

လူ့ဘောင်သစ်ဒီမိုကရက်တစ်ပါတီ
AbbreviationDPNS
ChairmanAung Moe Zaw[1]
Secretary-GeneralNgwe Lin[1]
Vice-ChairpersonMyint Naing[1]
Founded14 October 1988 (1988-10-14)
HeadquartersNo. 251, Third Floor, Seikkantha St. (Upper Block), Kyauktada Township, Yangon
Membership250,000 (claim)[2]
IdeologySocial democracy[2][3]
Federalism[2]
Anti-militarism[4]
Political positionCentre-left
Regional affiliationNational Council of the Union of Burma
International affiliationProgressive Alliance[5]
ColoursRed and yellow
Slogan"Peace and solidarity"
Seats in the Amyotha Hluttaw
0 / 224
Seats in the Pyithu Hluttaw
0 / 440
Party flag
Website
www.dpnsburmese.org

History

The Democratic Party for a New Society (DPNS) was founded on 14 October 1988 by students and youth, in response to the military junta government's suppression of the 8888 Uprising and pro-democracy movements in Myanmar.[2] Its original organisation, the All Burma Students League (ABSL) was banned from participating in political reforms during the aftermath of the 8888 Uprising. After the military junta refused to recognise the results of the 1990 general election, the DPNS was declared illegal, and 1,500 of its members were arrested, with other pro-democracy movements and parties meeting a similar fate.[2]

At the time of its founding, the DPNS was the second largest party, after the National League for Democracy (NLD), and attracted many young students, both from high schools and universities, many of whom were members of the ABSL.[2] Initially, the DPNS was used as the legal political wing of the All Burma Students' Union (ABSU), and worked with the National League for Democracy (NLD) and other pro-democracy parties, but has since unaffiliated themselves with the NLD and registered as its own independent party.

Objectives

The party's proclaimed objectives are as follows:[2]

References

  1. Min, Tayza. "Our People". www.dpns.org.
  2. "Democratic Party for a New Society (DPNS)".
  3. "Democratic Party for a New Society - Myanmar Now". www.myanmar-now.org. Thomson Reuters Foundation. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  4. Min, Tayza. "Building an Opposition to the Opposition". www.dpns.org. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  5. "Participants - Progressive Alliance". progressive-alliance.info. Archived from the original on 2 March 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
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