Sons of Two Ex-Generals to Contest Election Under USDP Banner

The sons of two former generals who were high-profile figures in the previous quasi-civilian government are set to contest the junta’s upcoming election, running as candidates for the military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), according to the regime’s electoral body and local residents.

Aye Chan—the son of ex-admiral Soe Thane, who served as a minister in the U Thein Sein government (2011-early 2016)—will run for a Lower House seat in Yangon’s industrial hub of Hlaing Tharyar Township (East). Dr. Htoo Char Aung—the son of  Aung Min, who served as President’s Office minister in the same administration—will contest a regional parliament seat in Bago Region’s Constituency 4.

As a member of Thein Sein’s military-proxy administration, Soe Thane helped fool the world into believing that Myanmar’s military dictatorship was at an end and that he himself and the administration to which he belonged were reform-minded. Earlier he had been a rear admiral in the previous military regime, which was in power from 1988 to 2010.