National Democratic Force

The National Democratic Force (abbr. NDF; Burmese: အမျိုးသားဒီမိုကရေစီအင်အားစု, pronounced [ʔəmjóðá dìmòkəɹèsì ʔɪ̀ɴʔázṵ]) is a political party in Myanmar (Burma) founded by former members of the National League for Democracy (NLD).

National Democratic Force

အမျိုးသားဒီမိုကရေစီအင်အားစု
AbbreviationNDF
PresidentKhin Maung Swe
ChairmanThan Nyein (until 2014)
LeaderToe Po
Secretary-GeneralWin Naing
Central Youth LeaderKyaw Htet
Split fromNational League for Democracy
HeadquartersBahan Township, Yangon
IdeologySocial liberalism[1]
Seats in the Amyotha Hluttaw
0 / 224
Seats in the Pyithu Hluttaw
0 / 440
Party flag

History

The NDF was among the three political parties, together with the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the National Unity Party (NUP), to stand in the 2010 general election on a nationwide basis.[2] The NDF's adoption of the peasant bamboo hat, which is a symbol traditionally used by the NLD, created some controversy. After the 2010 election, Thein Nyunt and Kyi Myint, members of the Pyithu Hluttaw, and Phone Myint Aung, a member of the Amyotha Hluttaw, split from the party and set up the New National Democracy Party. In December 2011, another member of the Aymotha Hluttaw, Myat Nyana Soe, resigned from the party and joined the NLD.[3] After the 2012 by-elections, two NDF MPs, Than Win and Khin Maung Win, also rejoined the NLD.[4]

Party leader Dr. Than Nyein died of liver cancer at Pinlon Hospital in Yangon on 21 May 2014.[5]

The NDF fielded 275 candidates in the 2015 general election, but failed to win a single seat.[6]

Platform

The NDF is a social liberal party that seeks to promote individual freedoms and a market economy with state regulation. The party supports civil and human rights and believes that ethnic political issues should be resolved alongside democracy and human rights issues. The party encourages the development of civil society organisations.[7] In the recent years, NDF has grown close to the military-backed USDP.[8] Some prominent members of the NDF have also espoused nationalist views and supported the ultranationalist organization Ma Ba Tha.[9][10][11]

References
  1. "National Democratic Force (NDF) Presents Its Policy, Stance And Work Programmes". Global New Light Of Myanmar. 17 September 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  2. "Election to be three-horse race: NPA | Myanmar Times". Mmtimes.com. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  3. Archived 16 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "NDF MPs rejoin NLD". Mizzima. 9 April 2012. Archived from the original on 9 April 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  5. "NDF Founder Dies of Liver Cancer". www.irrawaddy.org. Kyaw Hsu Mon. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  6. "Parties". The Myanmar Times. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  7. "250 political parties". The Irrawaddy. Archived from the original on 4 November 2010.
  8. Aung Myat Thu (19 August 2020). "Commander-in-Chief is the guardian of the nation, says USDP". Mizzima.
  9. Phyo Thiha Cho (24 November 2015). "Why Meikhtila went green - how USDP won in a traumatised city". Myanmar Now.
  10. "2015: The top 25 most influential people". Frontier Myanmar. 31 December 2015.
  11. Min, Aung Kyaw. "Nationalists plan rally to 'protect' 59(f)".
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