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Union Solidarity and Development Party

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Union Solidarity and Development Party
ပြည်ထောင်စုကြံ့ခိုင်ရေးနှင့်ဖွံ့ဖြိုးရေးပါတီ
AbbreviationUSDP
ChairmanThan Htay
Secretary-GeneralThet Naing Win
SpokespersonDr. Nandar Hla Myint
Vice-ChairmanMyat Hein, Khin Yi
FounderThein Sein
Founded8 June 2010 (14 years ago) (2010-06-08)
Preceded byUnion Solidarity and Development Association
HeadquartersDekkhinathiri Township, Naypyidaw
IdeologyBuddhist nationalism
Conservatism[1]
National conservatism[2]
Political positionRight-wing[3]
ColoursGreen
Seats in the House of Nationalities
11 / 224
Seats in the House of Representatives
30 / 440
Seats in the State and Regional Hluttaws
73 / 879
Ethnic Affairs Ministers
2 / 29
Party flag
Website
www.usdp.org.mm

The Union Solidarity and Development Party (Burmese: ပြည်ထောင်စုကြံ့ခိုင်ရေးနှင့်ဖွံ့ဖြိုးရေးပါတီ; abbreviated USDP), which was registered on 8 June 2010 by the Union Election Commission, currently standing as an opposition political party, is the successor to the Burmese government's mass organisation, the Union Solidarity and Development Association. It was headed by President Thein Sein until 2013, and its headquarters are in Naypyidaw's Dekkhinathiri Township.[4]

In the 2010 general election, the USDP won 883 seats out of 1154 total seats, 259 seats of 325 seats from Pyithu Hluttaw, 129 seats of 168 seats from Amyotha Hluttaw and 495 seats of 661 seats from Region and State Hluttaw (holding the majority in all, except the Rakhine State Hluttaw).[5]

On 4 March 2011, two USDP MPs from Bago Region, Ant Gyi, a Pyithu Hluttaw MP representing Thanatpin Township, and Cho Nwe Oo, representing Constituency 7 (Oktwin and Htantabin Townships) were disqualified by the Union Electoral Commission for failing to meet the constitutional requirements for citizenship (as both have a parent who are not Burmese citizens).[6]

Leadership

On 2 May 2011, Shwe Mann assumed the office as temporary chairman of USDP. Htay Oo as deputy chairman, Aung Thaung and Thein Zaw as Secretary 1 and 2. Maung Oo was appointed as Disciplinary Official of the USDP. Former Yangon Mayor Aung Thein Lin was appointed to lead the USDP's Yangon branch.[7]

On 16 October 2012, Thein Sein was re-elected as the chairman of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) at the USDP's first party conference in Naypyidaw.[8] This is in direct contradiction to the 2008 Constitution of Burma, which states:[9]

If the President or the Vice-Presidents are members of a political party, they shall not take part in its party activities during their term of office from the day of their election.

As of October 2012, USDP's leadership was reorganised to form a 44-member Central Executive Committee, including:[8]

Because of mounting criticism over his dual role, Thein Sein handed over the position of USDP chairman to Shwe Mann on 1 May 2013.[10]

On 13 August 2015 it was reported that chairman Shwe Mann and general secretary Maung Maung Thein had been removed from their positions.[11][12]

Election results

House of Nationalities (Amyotha Hluttaw)

Election Total seats won Total votes Share of votes Outcome of election Note Election leader
2010
129 / 224
Increase 129 Majority government Thein Sein
2012
124 / 224
Decrease 5 Majority government Thein Sein
2015
11 / 224
Decrease 112 Opposition Thein Sein

House of Representatives (Pyithu Hluttaw)

Election Total seats won Total votes Share of votes Outcome of election Note Election leader
2010
259 / 440
11,858,125 56.8% Increase 259 Majority government Thein Sein
2012
222 / 440
Decrease 37 Majority government Thein Sein
2015
29 / 440
6,341,920 28.3% Decrease 183 Opposition Thein Sein

References

  1. ^ "Coup In Ranks Of Myanmar's Ruling Party Highlights Concern Over Suu Kyi". 13 August 2015.
  2. ^ Haynes, Jeffrey (2019). The Routledge Handbook to Religion and Political Parties. Routledge.
  3. ^ "Myanmar is ripe for third-party opposition". Lowy Institute for International Policy. 12 May 2017.
  4. ^ "Union Solidarity Development Association/ Party". Mizzima News. Archived from the original on 25 October 2010.
  5. ^ "Results - 2010 Election Watch". ALTSEAN Burma. Archived from the original on 1 January 2012.
  6. ^ Shwe Yinn Mar Oo; Soe Than Lynn (7 March 2011). "Two USDP MPs sacked from national parliaments". Myanmar Times. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  7. ^ "Lower House speaker Thura Shwe Mann appointed USDP chairman". Mizzima News. 10 May 2011.
  8. ^ a b Wang Yuanyuan (16 October 2012). "President U Thein Sein re-elected as Myanmar's ruling party leader". Xinhua News Agency. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
  9. ^ "Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar" (PDF). Government of Myanmar. 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
  10. ^ "Thein Sein resigns as chairman of Burma's ruling party". DVB News. 2 May 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  11. ^ Zaw, Hnin Yadana. "Myanmar ruling party chief sacked in power struggle with president". reuters.com.
  12. ^ Doherty, Ben (13 August 2015). "Turmoil in Burma's military-backed ruling party as leaders are deposed". the Guardian.