MANDALAY — A candidate from the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) passed away on Friday after suffering a heart attack in the midst of a final campaign event.
Soe Myint, 53, was contesting a seat in the Sagaing Division parliament. A party official told The Irrawaddy he was singing a song at a rally in Myinmu Township when he suddenly fainted and collapsed.
“We took him to the hospital immediately, but the doctors said he was dead on arrival,” said another party member, Lower House candidate Soe San Thet Tun. “The doctors said the postmortem showed that he died of cardiac arrest.”
The NLD will not be able to replace him in the election on Sunday, leaving only two other candidates in the running from the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the National Unity Party (NUP).
Soe San Thet Tun said the untimely death represented a “great loss to his family and to our party.”
The party headquarters and the Union Election Commission (UEC) have both been informed of the candidate’s passing, he said, though it is too late to propose a substitute candidate or change the ballot.
Soe Myint, who held a degree in zoology, is survived by a daughter. His wife is also deceased.
A memorial service will be held on Nov. 9 for the deceased candidate, a member of the party since 1988.
