The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) has declared news of a party alliance with the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development (USDP) as “fake.”
The news circulated on Facebook on Saturday, one day ahead of election day, and was shared on sites frequented by Shan netizens. According to the reports being shared on social media, an alliance between the parties was officially signed on October 25 by SNLD vice chairperson Sai Lyunt Lwin and USDP chair Than Htay.
The agreement allegedly declared that the parties would not compete against each other in the general election on November 8 and would “divide up” parliamentary seats that they each won.
General secretary of the SNLD Sai Lek has dismissed the claims as false and said that there is no such alliance or agreement with the USDP, describing it as an “attack” on his party.
“People should not believe this kind of fake news,” Sai Lek told SHAN, adding that the SNLD had reported this offense to news monitoring groups.
He encouraged netizens to stay vigilant in fact-checking stories and in choosing information sources carefully.
