The party won the third largest share of the national vote in 2015 and is confident Rakhine nationalist sentiment will secure similar results this year
The Arakan National Party (ANP) has said it is confident it will maintain its dominant position in Rakhine in this year’s general election despite the campaign challenges posed by conflict in the state and Covid-19 related restrictions.
Aye Nu Sein, an ANP spokesperson, told Myanmar Now the party would be bolstered by widespread ethno-nationalism. “When the 2020 election takes place, our party is very hopeful that we’ll win in Rakhine as long as the Rakhine nationalism of the people doesn’t waver,” she said.
The party enjoys widespread support in northern and mid-Rakhine, where the Rakhine language and culture is more prominent and many harbour grievances against the Bamar dominated central government and military.
The National League for Democracy (NLD) holds most seats in southern Rakhine, which has closer cultural ties to central Myanmar.
The election commission has announced that voting will take place on November 8.
Rakhine’s political parties say they are concerned that the conflict and restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19 will hamper their campaigns.
“People are fleeing their villages left and right in masses,” Aye Nu Sein said. “Their safety is compromised. Even in cities, people feel unsafe. This poses a lot of challenges for the campaigns,”
Hla Myint, a spokesperson for the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD), said the clashes in at least six townships in Rakhine meant it would be challenging to hold elections there.
In the last election in 2015, the ANP won 22 out of 35 seats in Rakhine’s regional legislature. They also secured 22 seats in the national parliament: 10 in the lower house and 12 in the upper house.
The ANP’s Dr Zaw Aye Maung also holds a regional seat as Ethnic Affairs Minister.
The party is the third biggest in the national legislature, behind the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, and received the third highest number of votes overall.
The party is also looking beyond Rakhine and contesting seats in Yangon, Ayeyarwaddy region and Chin state’s Paletwa township, which has been stricken by fighting between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar military.
Besides the NLD, the ANP sees the Arakan Front Party (AFP) as its main competitor, said Aye Nu Sein.
While the ANP is confident of victory, infighting in the Rakhine nationlaist movement means several different parties are vying for the same constituents, which could split the anti-NLD vote.
The AFP was founded by former members of the ANP, which in turn was formed when the Arakan League for Democracy merged with another party, only for some members to later leave and reform the ALD.
After the 2015 elections, infighting led to Dr Aye Maung resigning from his position as chair of the ANP in order to found the AFP.
His new party beat the ANP in Rathedaung township in a 2018 by-election, but it has held off on preparations for this year’s election because he is serving a 20-year sentence at Insein prison for high treason.
He was arrested in 2018 after giving a speech in which he reportedly said the NLD treated Rakhine people as “slaves”.
“We have to meet him to see what his sentiments are; his opinion is crucial at the end of the day,” said AFP central executive committee member Kyaw Lwin.
“Only after that happens will we set up an internal meeting. But for now, nothing has been decided,” he said.
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