Some political parties will deploy their own armed security personnel for the election the Myanmar junta plans to hold in 2025.
The military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the National Interest and Development Party (NIDP) have already registered to arm their members.
At a meeting on Dec. 5-6 with representatives from 51 political parties, the junta’s National Solidarity and Peacemaking Negotiation Committee (NSPNC) announced that certain members would be given armed security duties during the upcoming election, according to political leaders who attended the meeting.
A senior figure from one political party said the NSPNC invited anyone between the ages of 35 and 65 who is interested in the job, including members of the political parties.
He complained about the sudden nature of the announcement. “We were informed unexpectedly, and this lack of preparation is a cause for concern,” he said. “We weren’t given enough time to organize and plan for this.”
But the USDP, led by Khin Yi, has already pledged to cooperate fully with the security measures, and the NIDP, led by Thant Zaw, enlisted 16 of its members for security duties.
The NIDP was granted official registration by the regime’s election committee in July last year, and party patron Soe Soe Myint attended the meeting and registered for the job.
According to a source at the meeting, the NIDP patron seemed to have been informed well ahead of time, asking the NSPNC why party chairman Thant Zaw had not yet received the gun licenses he had applied for months earlier.
Formerly known as the National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC) and formed by the deposed NLD government, the body was to provide technical support in the peacebuilding process in Myanmar. But instead it was renamed the NSPNC by junta boss Min Aung Hlaing in the wake of the 2021 coup.
According to the Union Election Commission, 53 parties are registered for the election, but it is unclear how many of them will arm themselves.
The regime has indicated that it will welcome anyone willing to serve as security personnel for the election, offering training, salaries, blue uniforms, and weapons. It did not provide details of the arms that would be issued to party members.
Election observers have expressed alarm over the implications. “Voters will feel unsafe if they see armed party members in the vicinity,” one observer said. “It could discourage people from voting or even cause them to avoid the process altogether. In my view it’s highly unlawful.”
The Open Election Data Initiative also cautioned against the idea, saying that while security may be necessary in areas prone to violence, the presence of armed party personnel could intimidate voters and reduce turnout.
The regime already plans to deploy 10,000 personnel from pro-regime militias who have completed military training for overall election security. Of these, 7,000 will be equipped with tasers and rubber batons, while 3,000 will carry firearms.
One political leader who attended the meeting in Naypyitaw quoted the NSPNC chairman, Lieutenant General Tun Tun Naung, as saying that the first group of approximately 10,000 “counterterrorism personnel” he had assembled would be deployed in three tiers of security circles at polling stations.
Attendees also learned that only 161 out of Myanmar’s 330 townships will hold elections due to ongoing conflict and instability in the rest. Under the election law, armed security is permitted within a 500-yard radius of voting stations in unstable regions.
In a recent statement, Min Aung Hlaing emphasized that the election will go ahead as planned in 2025, and the party that wins it is expected to take power. He stressed the importance of ensuring accuracy in voter lists and the vote-counting process.
