The SNDP and SNLD are competing for a vacant Lower House seat in the southern Shan State constituency.

The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) and Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP) have begun their election campaign in southern Shan State’s Laikha Township.

The parties will compete for a vacant seat in the Lower House in the November 3 by-elections; the campaign period officially ends at midnight on November 1.

“Each party has their own supporters. I cannot predict which party is going to win in the by-election. Let’s see on the polling day,” Laikha youth Sai Aik told SHAN.

He added that SNLD members were traveling village to village in the township, and the SNDP had started their campaign on Tuesday, and were using loudspeakers to spread the party’s message. The National League for Democracy, Sai Aik said, was distributing flyers.

The candidates vying for the vacant seat in Laikha are Sai Kawng Kham—also known as Sai Okker—from the SNLD, Sai Shwe Seng from the SNDP, and Sai Aung Tun Lay from the NLD. The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party is not running in Laikha.

The previous MP, the SNLD’s Sai Moon, passed away in late last year after winning the seat in Laikha’s constituency in the 2015 general election.

Sixty-nine candidates are competing for seats in 13 constituencies nationwide in the upcoming by-election. The two seats with significant representation of Shan communities are the Lower House seat in Laikha, and the Shan Affairs minister in Mandalay Region.