History of Elections in Myanmar

In Myanmar, there are three levels of Government under the 2008 constitution:

  1. The Union Government, the central government covering all of Myanmar
  2. The Regions and States, each has a degree of executive authority held by the Regional or State Government consisting of a Chief Minister, other ministers and an Advocate General
  3. Self-Administered Divisions and Self-Administered Zones, each has a Leading Body which has executive authority in its area.

In the general election, there is voting for three levels of legislature: for the national parliament (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw), which consists of two bodies, the House of Representatives (Pyithu Hluttaw) and House of Nationalities (Amyotha Hluttaw); and for the 14 Region/State Assemblies.

Under the country’s ‘first-the-post’ voting system, the national parliament is dominated by parties among the ethnic Bamar-majority, while nationality parties have fared better in the ethnic states (and one region) where the Self-Administered territories are also located..

This history focuses on elections held at the Union Government level to give background to the proposal of the State Administration Council to hold so-called ‘elections’ in August 2023.

Although there were elections in what was then called Burma during British rule of the country (notably, 1922, 1925, 1928, 1932 and 1936), this history will start with elections held for an independent Burma.

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1947 - Elections for an Independent Burma

Although Burma achieved formal independence in 1948, elections were held in April 1947, to form a constituent assembly which would govern after formal independence. The Karen National Union and majority of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) boycotted the polls.  The results of the elections for the leading parties were in respect of the 210 seats:

  • Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League (AFPFL) won 173 seats
  • Karen Youth Organization (KYO) won 19 seats
  • Communist Party of Burma won seven seats

General Aung San (the father of Aung San Suu Kyi) was intended to be appointed as prime minister by the ruling party AFPFL, but he was assassinated in July 1947 just three months after the election. In September 1947, a Constitution called the 'Constitution of the Union of Burma’ was approved by the Constitutional Assembly. According to the 1947 Constitution, the election-winning party, the AFPFL, had the power to form a government. There were no seats reserved for the national armed forces (Tatmadaw or Sit-Tat) under the 1947 Constitution. After the assassination of Aung San, U Nu then took office as prime minister.
1951 and 1952 - General Elections amid Civil War

In the very early years of independence, there was conflict with the main opposition groups.  These included the CPB, KNU and a diversity of ethnic nationality parties. 

General elections were held over several months between June 1951 and April 1952 due to internal conflicts. The results for the leading parties in respect of the 250 seats were:

  • AFPFL won 147 seats
  • AFPFL allies won 52 seats
  • People’s Democratic Front won 19 seats
  • Independent Arakanese Parliamentary Group won 6 seats,
1956 - General Elections

The AFPFL won the 1956 elections. The election was held over two separate days due to continuing conflicts.

The election was held for 202 out of the 250 seats (the remaining 48 were seats where the AFPFL were elected unopposed). Although the AFPFL won the election, it was with a reduced majority. The results of the elections for the leading parties were in respect of the 250 seats:

  • AFPFL won 147 seats
  • National United Front (NUF) won 48 seats
  • United Hill People’s Congress won 14 seats
  • Arakanese National Unity Organisation (ANUO) won 5 seats

After the election, in June 1958 the AFPFL split into two groups: one, known as the “Clean” AFPFL, was led by U Nu and the other group, known as the “Stable” AFPFL, was led by U Kyaw Nyein and U Ba Swe.
1958 - Military Caretaker Government

In December 1958, amid rivalries for political power, General Ne Win seized power and ruled the country as a ‘military caretaker’ government. Ne Win became the ‘interim’ prime minister. In one sense, this is as a precedent for the current political circumstances, where Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing seized power forcibly, put in place an ‘interim’ government, and then said that his regime would hold a future general election.

1960 - General Election

On 6 February 1960, the ‘military caretaker’ government under Ne Win held a general election. The results of the elections for the leading parties in respect of the 250 seats were:

  • ‘Clean’ AFPFL won 158 seats
  •  ‘Stable’ AFPFL won 41 seats
  • NUF won 3 seats
  • ANUO won 6 seats
  • Shan State United Hill People’s Organisation won 6 seats
1962 - Coup d’etat

On 2 March 1962, the armed forces led by General Ne Win seized power under a Revolutionary Council. It then ruled as a military authoritarian regime for over a quarter of a century before multiparty general elections were held again in the country.

1974 to 1990 - One-Party General Elections

In 1973, a constitutional referendum was held, and a new Constitution was approved. In accordance with the terms of the new Constitution, a general election was held in January 1974.

The 1973 Constitution made the country a one-party State, with the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) the sole legal party. The BSPP won all 451 seats in the first People’s Assembly. 

General elections were then held in 1978, 1981 and 1985. Unsurprisingly, the BSPP won all the seats in every election and voter turn-out was reported to be higher than 90 per cent..
1988 - 8888 Uprising

A series of nationwide protests and marches peaked on 8 August 1988. The pro-democracy movement was initially led by students. The BSPP government agenda was known as the ‘Burmese Way to Socialism’ and involved economic isolation and strengthening the armed forces. It resulted, however, in Myanmar becoming one of the poorest nations in the world, with Least Developed Country status at the United Nations.  Under General Ne Win, the government also failed to end armed conflict with different ethnic and political opposition groups around the country.

Although there were many reasons for the 8888 Uprising, an ultimate trigger were currency devaluations in 1985 and 1987 which destroyed many people’s savings overnight.
1988 - SLORC Coup d’etat

The pro-democracy uprising was quelled in a bloody military coup by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) on 18 September 1988. 
1990 - General Election

The SLORC ran the first multi-party elections in Myanmar since 1960 in the general election of 27 May 1990.  A diversity of parties won seats.  The results of the elections were in respect of the 492 seats for the three leading parties:

  • National League for Democracy (NLD) won 392 seats
  • National Unity Party (NUP) won 10 seats
  • Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) won 23 seats

The turnout for the 1990 election was 72.6 per cent.

However, claiming that the elections were only for a body to help draw up a new constitution, the military regime refused to recognise the results and continued to rule the government until 2011.

2008 - Constitution

On 10 May 2008, a Constitutional referendum was held in Myanmar and the SLORC successor, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), announced that 93.82 per cent of the electorate voted in favour. However, there was criticism of the process as Cyclone Nargis had hit the country a few days before the vote, causing over 130,000 fatalities, and there were questions about whether the vote was truly free and fair.

Under the 2008 Constitution, the Defence Services retained significant control of the government, including that 25% of the seats in the three levels of legislatures are reserved for serving military officers. The Constitution also prohibited any person with foreign spouses or children from becoming President, a clause aimed at ensuring that Aung San Suu Kyi could never become President.

2010 - General Election

On 7 November 2010, in accordance with the 2008 Constitution, the SPDC held a general election.  However, the NLD and pro-democracy ethnic and political parties boycotted the elections because they had set a number of conditions for participating in the polls including:

  • Changes to the Constitution to reduce the power of the military over the parliament
  • International supervision and monitoring to ensure free and fair elections
  • Freeing all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi

As these minimum conditions were not met, the NLD did not participate in the election. Therefore the military-supported party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), won 129 of the 224 seats. Other parties included:

  • NUP won 5 seats
  • Rakhine Nationalities Development Party won 7 sets
2015 - General Election

The USDP Government held a general election on 8 November 2015. The NLD obtained a majority of the seats in both the House of Nationalities and the House of Representatives. 

The results of the leading parties in election to the House of Nationalities were in respect of the 224 seats:

  • NLD won 135 seats
  • USDP won 12 seats
  • Arakan National Party (ANP) won 10 seats

56 seats were reserved for the military.

 The results of the elections in the House of Representatives were in respect of 440 seats:

  • NLD won 255 seats
  • USDP won 30 seats
  • ANP won 12 seats
  • SNLD won 12 seats

110 seats were reserved for the military.

The NLD took office in April 2016.
2020 - General Elections

On 8 November 2020, the NLD held a general election. The NLD again won a significant majority in both Houses of Parliament. 

The results of the elections in the House of Nationalities were in respect of the 224 seats:

  • NLD won 138 seats (three more than the 2015 election)
  • USDP won 7 seats (five less than the 2015 election)
  • ANP won 4 seats

7 constituency seats were cancelled due to conflict. 56 seats were reserved for the military.

The results of the elections in the House of Representatives were in respect of the 440 seats:

  • NLD won 258 seats (three more than the 2015 election)
  • USDP won 26 seats (four less than the 2015 election)
  • SNLD won 13 seats
  • ANP won 4 seats

15 were cancelled due to conflict. 110 seats were reserved for the military.

The election was observed by both domestic and international election observers. The Union Election Commission (UEC) accredited 7,232 observers. International observers included the Asian Network for Free Elections, the Carter Center, the European Union and Japan Government. The UEC had staff including from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.

2021 - Attempted Coup d’etat

On 1 February 2021, the Myanmar military, led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, attempted to stage a coup. They forcibly took power in the capital Naypyidaw imposing a new regime known as State Administration Council.