The All Mon Region Democracy Party is one of two major ethnic Mon parties to compete in the 2015 election. The party contested Burma’s 2010 election and won 16 seats in total, taking advantage of a boycott by the Mon National Party (MNP) to win over ethnic Mon voters in southeastern Burma, which otherwise went largely to the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

The AMDP says it has a 20,000-strong membership, with branch offices in 15 townships in Mon and Karen states, and Tenasserim Division. In 2010, the party won nearly half of the 34 seats it contested, but this year it will have to contend with its primary 2010 foe, the ruling USDP, as well as Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, and the MNP; the latter two did not contest in 2010.

Like most ethnic parties, the AMDP says if elected it will continue to push for constitutional change. A related plank of the AMDP’s platform supports the establishment of a resource-sharing framework that will allow the people of Mon State to benefit from their state’s natural resources endowment.

The party has raised the profile of an issue advocated by many of the country’s ethnic minority groups: the teaching of ethnic languages in government-run primary schools. The effort that has met with some, albeit modest, success in Mon State.

In an interview with The Irrawaddy ahead of the election, an AMDP leader said the party would fight to ensure human rights for all Burma’s people; build national unity on the foundation of equality and self-determination; support multi-party democracy within the framework of a federal union; fight bribery and corruption; strive for socio-economic development in part by addressing endemic land-grabs; and prioritize rural development.

* States and divisions in red indicate that the party is fielding candidates at the Union or regional level in that jurisdiction.