In a last-ditch effort to whip votes before the April 1 by-election, members of a Shan political party met with residents in Kengtung Township on March 27 and 28.

Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) chair Khun Htun Oo urged voters to elect the candidate who they feel would most clearly work in the public’s interest. He was joined at the event by Nang Kham Aye, the SNLD representative for Namtu Township’s Pyithu Hluttaw seat, and Loong Sai Long, the SNLD candidate for  Kyaingtong/Kengtung’s consistency 2.

“At the campaign event, they said that the Tiger Head [SNLD] party hopes to win the confidence of the people. The vote all depends on the desires of the people to choose who they want to represent them,” said Sai Tun Yee, a local resident who attended the campaign rally.

Shan State will be a hotly contested battleground this weekend. In 2015, it was an outlier to the National League for Democracy’s (NLD) sweep, serving instead to propel the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy to its position as the country’s fourth largest party in the national parliament. The state is also a last bastion for the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which took the bulwark of seats in the Shan State legislature in 2015.

Two townships in Shan State – Kyethi and Mong Hsu – will have their first poll in seven years this by-election, after the vote was previously cancelled due to security concerns. A total of six seats in those areas are up for grabs, two in Pyithu Hluttaw and four in the Shan State Hluttaw.

In Kengtung, the only other seat free in Shan State, six parties are vying for a chance to join the state parliament. The SNLD is joined by competition from the NLD, the USDP, the Shan National Democratic Party (SNDP), the Lahu National Development Party and the Akha National Development Party (ANDP).

By Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN)