MOULEIN, Mon State — Two hundred members of the All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMDP) announced their joint resignation from the Thaung Pyin village party chapter in Mon State’s Ye Township and closed the party’s office on Saturday amid the constituency’s by-election.
The mass resignation and closure of the chapter was caused by the party members’ lack of faith in the leadership and its opposition to a proposed merge of three Mon political parties—AMDP, Mon National Party (MNP), and Women’s Party (Mon)—said Nai Mon Sai, the ex-chairman of the Thaung Pyin Village chapter of AMDP, who also resigned.
“The party leadership does not pay heed to the voices and wishes of Mon people,” Nai Mon Sai told The Irrawaddy.
“They do not accept the coordination group formed for coordinating the merger of the three Mon political parties, so we can’t move forward, and decided to resign,” he added.
There were 290 members in Thaung Pyin village chapter of AMDP, and 200 resigned on Saturday.
The party office was closed and the signboard was removed, said Nai Mon Sai.
Party members of the Thaung Pyin village chapter were also upset about the dismissal of Nai Oak Sar—a central executive committee (CEC) member of the village chapter who was actively working towards the merger of Mon political parties—by the AMDP CEC on March. 24.
Nai Oak Sar complained that the party expelled him without an official dismissal letter.
“According to the procedures of the political party, if I am expelled, they have to send an official letter to me, detailing their accusation against me and the date when the decision was made. But they told the media about my expulsion first, and I have not yet received the letter,” he said.
Joint secretary of AMDP Nai San Tin said that there was a delay in sending the letter, but that it had been sent. The party leadership would re-open a party office in Thaung Pyin Village, he added.
“It is natural that they would respond to the dismissal of their village CEC member,” Nai San Tin told The Irrawaddy. “It is not that all the party members have resigned. We will re-open the party office with the remaining party members,” he added.
According to Nai San Tin, Nai Oak Sar was expelled because he attended the Mon National Conference held in August last year as the representative of AMDP without the official approval of the party leadership.
Nai San Tin said Nai Oak Sar slandered the party leadership and caused instability within the party.
AMDP was formed in 2010, and contested the 2010 and 2015 general elections as well as the 2017 by-election.
It won 16 seats in total in the 2010 general elections, but just one seat in the Mon State Parliament in the 2015 poll. The elected lawmaker became deputy speaker of the state parliament. The party won no seats in the 2017 by-elections.
