10 | THE JUNTA’S ELECTIONS WILL FEATURE ONLY HANDPICKED POLITICAL PARTIES 77 parties applied to register with the UEC, and 63 have been approved. However, two registered parties were dissolved in November 202316 and four in September 202517 for not meeting the required number of members or offices, bringing the total of political parties able to run in the junta’s elections to 57. 39 are parties that existed before the coup, while 18 are new parties. Only six are registered at the Union level. Most registered political parties are known to be affiliated with the military or ethnic militias close to it. They participate in so-called peace initiatives from the SAC, such as the National Solidarity and Peace Negotiation Committee (NSPNC), the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC), and the 2025 Peace Forum. Many also have a track record of signing joint statements in support of the military’s claims of election fraud in 2020 or condemning resistance groups, demonstrating that they have fully embraced the junta’s narrative. Some political parties, such as the People’s Party (PP) led by former student leader Ko Ko Gyi, are purportedly unaffiliated with the military but still decided to re-register with the UEC. Pro-democracy stakeholders interviewed dismiss these as opportunists who have been co-opted by the junta and are motivated by the perspective of political gains in the absence of the NLD. There are indications that some of the new parties were set up or supported by junta officials. Others are proxies for local parties to be able to compete in more than one region or state. 16 17 44 The Mro Nationality Party and the Shan State Kokang Democratic Party The National Democratic Force, the Women’s Party (Mon), the Democratic Party of National Politics, and the Union Farmer-Labour Force Party. The National Democratic Force claims to have reported 75,000 members prior to being dissolved by the UEC.