Junta-aligned party pressures Ywangan residents to hold election support rally

The junta-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is pressuring residents in Ywangan Township, southern Shan State, to organize a rally supporting the junta’s upcoming election.

Although presenting their efforts as a ‘rallying call,’ USDP members have in fact been pressuring residents of Ywangan Township to hold a pro-election rally.

Since the second week of November, the party has demanded each household to send at least one person to join a rally planned for next month at the Kyaukkupyin Village football field, according to locals.

“They told us that one person from each household has to attend the rally. They warned that there would be no guarantees about what might happen if we don’t comply. So, we’ll go where they instruct us to go. They said the rally is planned for December,” said a Kyaukkupyin villager.

USDP members have been primarily targeting communities in the Kyaukmyaung, Kyaukkupyin, Doketoeyae, Theinkone, and Tapinpyaw village tracts, pressuring residents to join the planned rally.

The junta has announced that the election will be conducted in phases. Ywangan Township is not included in the Phase 1 polling scheduled for December 28. Only 102 of Myanmar’s 330 townships will vote in the first phase, including 12 townships in Shan State.

Phase 2 voting, to be held on January 11, 2026, will cover 100 townships, including 17 in Shan State, among them Ywangan.