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Myanmar's opposition decides to contest general election

Xinhua, July 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

The National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, decided on Saturday to compete in the upcoming general election slated for November 8.

Aung San Suu Kyi, Chairperson of the NLD, told a press conference following a meeting of the party's Central Executive Committee at her residence in the capital that the party including herself will compete in all three levels of the parliament and in almost all constituencies.

Priority will be given to qualified party members, especially women, youth and ethnic people for selection of candidates, she said.

Despite failure in constitution amendment of the Section 59 (f) related with presidential run, Suu Kyi said an alternative way, accepted by the people, will be arranged.

NLD's decision came days after the Union Election Commission ( UEC) announced November 8 for holding the country's general election.

The commission has urged political parties to submit the list of their respective nominated parliamentary candidates in terms of levels of the parliament and constituencies from July 20 to August 8 to compete in the election and approval will be made on the candidates after scrutiny.

The commission has designated a total of 1,171 constituencies across the country for the vote at four levels of parliament representatives with 330 constituencies set for election of the House of Representatives (Lower House), 168 constituencies for the House of Nationalities (Upper House), 644 constituencies for Region or State Parliament and 29 constituencies for Region or State Parliaments for National Races.

According to the commission, there are 83 registered political parties in Myanmar and each of them is set to compete at least in three constituencies.

The 2015 general election is to produce representatives to the next term of the parliament which will form a government of new term starting 2016. Endi