For Peace or for Military Entrenchment?

The military junta will convene regional parliaments — State and Region Hluttaws —on March 20, according to the results of the 2026 elections it organized. At this time, there are many questions for ethnic-based political parties that contested under the banner of peace and justice.

The central question is whether they will genuinely represent the people’s voices in parliament, or whether they will serve merely as filler parties propping up the military’s 2008 Constitution. In the three-phase election, Kachin State-based parties won in only a handful of constituencies.

No Freedom, No Justice, No Representation

Among all elections held in Myanmar since 2010, the 2026 election had the lowest level of public participation and fairness, according to a former Kachin State parliament candidate who contested in 2020.

“Rather than talking about fairness, if you compare this election to the conditions during 2010, 2015, and 2020, public participation and the threshold for party participation were at an all-time low. Looking at these factors, one can clearly see that freedom and fairness were completely absent.”

Elections were held in only 10 of Kachin State’s 18 townships.

Four Kachin State-based parties contested: the Kachin State People’s Party (KSPP), the New Democracy Party-Kachin (NDPK), the Lisu National Development Party (LNDP), and the Tai-Leng (Red Shan) National Development Party (TNDP).

As expected, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) swept nearly all seats across all three levels of parliament in all 10 townships where elections were held, while state-based parties suffered major defeats.

Sources close to the KSPP said the party secured three wins: one seat via the proportional representation (PR) system in Kachin State Constituency No. 1; former KSPP chairperson Dr. Manam Tu Ja in Constituency No. 2 for the Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House); and one Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House) seat in Putao’s Machangbaw township.

Out of approximately 25 KSPP candidates who contested across all three levels of parliament, only three won.