The Myanmar junta’s Union Election Commission (UEC) has rejected an appeal by Thet Thet Khine, People’s Pioneer Party (PPP) chair and a former junta minister, upholding her disqualification from the upcoming election.
“I submitted an appeal, but the UEC has already rejected it. That means I can no longer contest,” she told supporters at a PPP rally in Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar Township on Friday.
She was disqualified on Oct. 21 under Section 8(d) of the Election Law, which bars candidates with unresolved liabilities to the state or public.
She reportedly owes nearly 100 billion kyats (about $47.6 million) to Kanbawza Bank over a failed Yangon housing project.
Thet Thet Khine said she filed appeals to the UEC and coup leader Min Aung Hlaing in late October, hoping to retain her candidacy for Yangon Region’s No. 2 Upper House constituency. She added that she had paid 5 billion kyats toward the debt on October 30 in an effort to meet requirements.
Observers note that Section 8(d) was added to the law in July only after the regime announced its election schedule earlier this year. “As far as I know, this provision has only been enforced against Daw Thet Thet Khine,” said a Myanmar affairs analyst. He added that the regime may have prepared ways to expel candidates it no longer trusts, citing the earlier removal of the pro-military National Democratic Front (NDF).
“They used one method against the NDF, and now another against Thet Thet Khine. That means others are vulnerable too—even [People’s Party chair] Ko Ko Gyi and Khin Yi [chair of the military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party] may not be safe.”
Thet Thet Khine is among a total of 86 candidates disqualified nationwide. She told BBC Burmese last month that if only one candidate were reinstated, she hoped it would be her.
A former National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmaker who was expelled in 2018 after publicly criticizing the party, Thet Thet Khine founded the PPP to contest the 2020 election but failed to win any seats. She garnered just 7.03 percent in her own constituency, compared to 83.18 percent for her NLD rival.
After the NLD government was ousted in the 2021 coup, the regime appointed her as minister for Social Welfare and later as minister for Hotels and Tourism. The roles reinforced her public image as a turncoat. However, she was purged from the junta administration earlier this year amid speculation she had fallen out of favor with regime boss Min Aung Hlaing.
The PPP is one of nine parties contesting nationwide in a phased vote scheduled to begin on December 28.
Western governments, international rights groups, and election watchdogs have dismissed the poll as a ploy to extend military rule under a civilian guise. ASEAN has said any election in Myanmar must be preceded by an end to violence and inclusive dialogue between all stakeholders.
