Burma’s military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) is reportedly planning to form proxy parties to contest the proposed general election in 2010.

“I heard that the USDA is ready to form proxy parties to run in the election,” a Burmese researcher in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy. “One of the proxy parties may be named the National Prosperity Party.”

The researcher, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said some well-known writers and economists would be invited to be “think tanks” for the new parties.

An Arakanese leader, Aye Thar Aung, said businessmen and other prominent people in Arakan State were being asked to stand as pro-military candidates. “It seems as if the authorities want respectable people to be involved,” he said.

A Rangoon businessman associated with the USDA said the organization wanted to form three or four proxy parties and was drawing up names of businessmen and respectable people who could be candidates.

Thakin Chan Tun, a veteran Rangoon politician in Rangoon, claimed the businessmen invited to stand in the election would be rewarded by the USDA with special benefits.

He said the USDA had lost its credibility following its involvement in the brutal crackdown on last September’s demonstrations. USDA thugs were also held responsible for the attack on pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters in Depayin, Sagaing Division, northern Burma, in late May, 2003.

Senior members of the USDA include junta head Snr-Gen Than Shwe and government ministers.

“A USDA role in the 2010 election is questionable,” said Thakin Chan Tun. “But they can use proxy parties.”

The regime would make sure the 2010 election would not be a repeat of the one in 1990, he maintained. “The junta will make sure the pro-military parties will get a majority.”
Aye Thar Aung said pro-military groups such as the 88 Generation Students group of the Union of Burma, led by Aye Lwin, a former student activist and anti-sanctions politician, and the Wun Tha Nu National League for Democracy, which split from the NLD, were ready to register themselves for the 2012 election.

The NLD and other victorious parties in the 1990 election have yet to make their intentions known. Opposition sources say most will boycott the 2010 election.

Several pro-military parties met with the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, during his recent visit to Burma.

A report in the official daily The New Light of Myanmar listed the parties and groups that met the UN envoy:

The NLD, the National Unity Party, the Union Pa-O National League, Independent Representatives-elect, the Wun Tha Nu (patriotic) National League for Democracy, the 88 Generation Student Youths (Union of Myanmar), the Modern Political Scientific Economy Study Group, the Political Economy Study Group (New Generation), and the National Convention and Constitution Supporting Force.

Pro-military parties and groups were in the overwhelming majority on the list because the authorities wanted to show the international community that there were pro-military voices in Burma, said Thein Nyunt, a lawyer who was a successful candidate in the 1990 election.

Aye Thar Aye agreed: “The military junta wants to send their voice to the UN envoys, through the mouths of pro-military groups.”

Political observers say the junta is expected to announce the electoral law for the 2010 election in the near future. “We heard this unconfirmed news and we’ll know more when the official announcement comes,” said Thein Nyunt.